Pool Action
by White Solitude
Summary: It's simple. Natsu gets the girl. He takes her number and takes her home. But that didn't happen when he met a gorgeous blonde one afternoon at a bar, in a game of pool.
1. Chapter 1

The 8 ball rolls over to the hole with a soft _thud_ , making it her fourth consecutive win against her redhead friend. It was actually not a surprise that Erza couldn't play pool, she lacks both focus and patience to even shoot one ball. But it's quite a form of entertainment—seeing her struggle into both maneuvering the stick and telling which ball is which. Lucy sighs in satisfaction but it was short-lived as she continues to ramble on about her new boss. Erza only agreed to play with her pool expert friend because she was upset but unfortunately even her favorite hobby couldn't cheer her up.

"... He's such a pain in the ass! Don't you agree, Erza?" The busty blonde glanced at her friend but unfortunately for her, Erza was not listening—too busy oggling at the blue-haired cutie. Lucy frowned, glancing at her point of interest, wondering whatever the server had to steal the redhead's attention away.

When she finally locked her chocolate eyes at the culprit, the blonde noticed two things: his sleeves were lazily rolled over his elbows and with keen observation—the strict policy of proper uniform didn't go unnoticed, she knew he clearly did it on purpose to impress women like Erza. Also, his tribal tattoo circling around his right eye looked stupid.

But Lucy can't blame her friend though, the redhead has been single for far too long to notice the things that could aggravate her (because she seriously despised tattoos and rule-breaking) she could just imagine the wrath bestowing upon the poor human. Then again, who is she to stop a potential candidate of taming a fierce woman like Erza? The redhead is not even the type of girl to give two fucks and a half about guys until this one.

"Why don't you talk to him?" Lucy adviced with a shrug of her shoulders.

"W-what?" Truth be told, she did not expect her best friend blushing five shades deeper than her royal red hair. It's so totally not like her.

"I mean, you clearly like him" The blonde stated the obvious, even she's not a love expert but the stars in her friend's eyes were clearly visible.

"But-"

"Look, I know you hate pool and I can't stand an opponent who doesn't even have a chance" Whether both statements were true, Erza slightly giggled but she couldn't just leave her friend there and Lucy knows it. The redhead has always been selfless—thinking more about her soul sister rather than herself a little too much, Lucy immediately sealed her understanding of why her friend is still single.

She was holding her back. Not exactly the right words but somewhere along those lines.

"Erza, seriously... I'm not arguing with you to grow a pair and go there" Lucy crossed her arms over her chest.

"I can't and even if I wanted to, you'll be left alone" The tone in her friend's voice suggested that it was the end of their discussion and it's nearly dangerous to argue with her at this point. It'll hurt to try but-

"Jesus Erza, I'm not a kid... I'm a healthy twenty three year old girl living independently across your door, doesn't that suggest something?" Lucy was getting tired of Erza treating her this way anyway, might as well tell her.

"And I don't want you regretting that talking to him did not happen when you're living in a house alone with cats" She added, already flustered from scolding at the redhead like that.

"I'm not gonna be alone, you're gonna be there with me" Erza muttered softly, it was barely audible if it weren't for Lucy's perfectly working ears.

"Now that's scary. We are high-functioning humans who basically want the same thing. Grow up, find someone and have kids... If you turn into a cat lady, you'll just spend forty years of your life fully regretting this very moment right here" Lucy admits it, she's not the best person to make a statement but her point still stands, she can't let Erza be Erza right now, it's a matter of life and shitty life.

The redhead sternly looked at Lucy and by the looks of it, she's not ready to give up just yet. But is it really worth the effort to break the rule once? It's not like Erza's afraid of guys, she actually has a healthy social life but getting used to _just them_ became a solid foundation of their friendship—whether for better or for worse, the redhead made a promise to herself to always be there for Lucy and it just comes across being selfish to leave her friend right here right now to strike a conversation to that guy.

Furthermore, the blonde would not let her live this down if she turned this down right now. With a breathe of defeat, she finally nodded her head. "Alright fine"

Lucy's smile stretched a mile longer, she can't believe she finally persuaded her friend. It has been a while since Erza raised her white flag anyway but nonetheless, she knows that her friend would thank her later.

"But don't hesitate if you want to go home" Erza warned with a vicious growl.

"Of course"

"And if anyone hurts you, tell me immediately"

"I know, mom"

The redhead pivoted her body to face Lucy, motioning her hands to herself. "Now, how do I look?" Well, she's still a girl after all.

Lucy observed her from head to toe, and a moment later she questioned herself why. Erza had always been beautiful, a head turner for her overall look. The long red hair that sometimes made her jealous, her fierce brown eyes that seemed intimidating yet intriguing at the same time—those were enough to get the idea.

"You're fine. You look great"

Erza beamed her a smile, adjusting her blouse. "Go get him, tiger" She smacked her ass once which earned her a dangerous glare but was too late to say anything back as the guy took notice of her.

* * *

If only he did not agree, oh how he regrets this decision. Natsu sighed heavily for the nth time today, it's not like he hated going out—in fact, he's a wild party lover. But coming here with his friends was a bad idea. He glared at the small bar in front of him, wondering why on earth did they want to come here of all places. The place looked old and cramped with its worn out mahogany paint and breakeven sidewalk, it looked like a place for bikers to arm wrestle in. The pinkette insisted to go someplace else, thinking of an infinite number of places far better than this one but no, Gray insisted to go there for some unknown reason and even Gajeel agreed with him. What the heck is happening with his friends?

"Are you just gonna stand there and look stupid? Let's go!" Gray and the rest was already ahead of him and he lightly mumbled a string of curses before following behind. He knows they'll regret going here once they step inside, it's not so long after his grimace is replaced by a ghostly smirk.

But once they did, the entire place looked spacious than normal, it's like logic and the rules of physics doesn't apply here. There were a lot of booths, tables and chairs scattered everywhere, a rectangular bar at the center and pool tables elevated at a corner. The jazz music playing in the background made Natsu's head ache—used to the house music flooding a place like this. Then there's the dimly lit entirety of this place, it's like it's accomplishing to be dark and mysterious for emo vampires. Overall, this place sucked. He could just imagine the kinds of people hanging out here are either weirdos with no social life or vampires who likes art. Maybe even both for all he cared.

Before he knows it, his friends already left him. They were at the far end booth with a few people—no, girls beside them, Natsu cursed lightly, how dare them for leaving him like this. They could have at least mentioned to him that they were meeting some people, Gajeel was talking to a short blue-haired girl sitting beside him, Gray was surprisingly drinking with another blue-haired girl and almost everyone of them are too busy right now.

Those bastards.

However, Natsu doesn't have much of a choice. He's already here anyway, so he marched to them grumpily. "I'll go have a drink" He muttered before walking away towards the bar, not even once did they pay attention to him but he did not care, at least they offered great whiskey.

He hovered greatly at the bar section, it was uncomfortable enough that the thing is too small to sit on and now, he sat so close against a middle-aged fallen drunkard with his bald head resting on the counter, his soft snores annoying to the ears. Natsu's only solution is to face the other way and drink.

But that's not all, his bored and dull eyes stopped at a certain and interesting blonde. Oh, how could he have missed this, she's not really hard to not notice at all. The busty blonde was leaning at the edge of the pool table, the curve of her ass deliciously exposed through her pencil skirt—the said girl was too busy to notice the amount of male attention directed towards her, it was unbelievably obvious if you ask him. And the way her eyes points at the 5 ball just added to the sensual image, what a distraction. Natsu, along with the other guys appreciated the way she leaned further before hitting the white ball with the stick.

Well, forget the regret that he was talking about.

When the pinkette realized that staring at her is not enough, he took the whiskey with one gulp before making his way there, being the only one with a pair to actually do something. Natsu could only smirk, the ogling guys are just pathetic.

He leaned on his side, propping his arm on the edge of the table to face the blonde beauty and yet being this close to her did not take away her attention at the ball. "If you're here to hit on me, I swear to god, I will shove this stick right up your ass, you can't even walk" How aloof, his interest just went past the roof.

Well, he's wrong about one thing. At least more than once did they try to make a move on her and yet nothing worked. Natsu had to think fast, his keen eyes watched as one of the balls fell down the whole—her eyes brightly shining in triumph.

"I'm here to challenge you" He did play pool back when it was still popular, maybe this is the right time to use his useless skills.

The chic finally drifts her full attention towards him, she leaned back, firmly standing straight in front of him. Natsu cannot help but admire her beauty, she looked a hundred times more beautiful when she's facing him. He only noticed just now that she actually has chocolate brown eyes and everything was just prominently visible, she's a goddess made to attract men. Heck, even Aphrodite would be jealous of her golden shining locks and porcelain skin. It made him wonder how it would feel like against his palm or his tongue.

* * *

Five minutes prior to when Erza had left her, Lucy was having a great time by herself playing pool. She could have enjoyed all the way if it weren't for guys coming up on her right here and there to say something stupid like _"Did it hurt falling down from heaven?"_ but thanks to her strong sarcasm, they were able to leave her alone. It's not like she's a man hater, they were all just plain stupid. If Lucy had known that this is how you pick up girls today, she would have created a time machine and stayed somewhere, where guys wrote you poems and recited verses while you're on top of a balcony. It would have been ten times better than this.

Not long after, another guy decided to approach her. She inwardly screamed, hoping that this would stop soon. The blonde decided to not pay that much attention to him, going with her logic that if you ignore it, it will go away.

But unfortunately for her, the guy is persistent and he's leaning so close beside her, it was kind of suffocating. She deadly glared at the ball, concentrating on her game more than the guy—the blonde beauty can only take enough to bite back.

"If you're here to hit on me, I swear to god, I will shove this stick right up your ass, you can't even walk" She growled dangerously but no matter how she said it, he stayed there like he did not hear a thing.

The ball lands into the hole, Lucy was immediately distracted by her small triumph but the guy decided to say something else.

"I'm here to challenge you" Did she heard him right? He's here to challenge her? Lucy Heartfilia is not to be underestimated with, she took some pride throughout her pool career. She was known as the pool queen during her college years, she championed over local competitions and even up to international competitions. She won half of the titles all over the world and she won a lot more than her fingers and toes could count. Of course, pool is not entirely popular in the country. The blonde loved to win but what she loved more is a good challenge. So, she decided towards it.

Lucy leaned back, drawing her eyes to meet her challenger. An undeniably hot guy with salmon pink hair and sharp onyx eyes, she was ninety nine percent sure that the guy could be a model, if not an actor. In fact, he looked like he was removed from a magazine and placed right here, in front of her. His lips along with the rest of him was unsettingly attractive. And she did not like it, not one bit. But she remained emotionless, no matter how gigantic his mass appeal is, the blonde can't be hypnotized by just looks, she'll give him that.

"Alright" A smug smirk played with her luscious pink lips and he dared to lean close enough to feel her warm breathe against his lips.

She decided against being affected by all this, Lucy handed him her stick before going over to the rack to get her own.

"I'm not going to go easy on you, got it?" She reminded with a glance his way.

"So am I" He grinned, showing his pearly white teeth.

Here goes.

* * *

Natsu watches her every move, she strides over to the opposite side, polishing the end of her stick before arranging the colored pool balls into a triangle. If the other guys have known any better, one of them would have had the chance to be this close to her, even at least a pool table closer.

"Who's turn?" She asked, walking up beside him.

The pinkette smirked devilishly, stepping back with a motion of his arm—being the ridiculous gentleman that he is. "Ladies first"

With that being said, she did not hold herself back, matching his twisted smirk with her own, the universe would have wondered if they were soulmates. She took the first shot, incredibly shooting two balls in a hole at once, walking to and fro within the parameter of the entire table.

"So do you have a name?" He asked, now this is where everything unfolds. The chic was across from him, her brown gaze fixated at the game.

"Yes, like most people, I do... Why'd you ask?" Natsu could tell that she was playing hard to get, the goddess had damned lazer eyes that could cut through the thickest layers of glass.

"Nothing, I just wanna know who I'm dealing with" For a fraction of a second, not just a quarter, maybe even less—Natsu saw a flicker of surprise followed by amusement in her eyes.

She polished her stick before going through a stance, pursing her pink lips into a thin line in the process. "Well, the girl whose winning is Lucy"

Of course her name is Lucy, a perfect name for a perfect girl. And somehow, the name _Lucy_ in his mind felt so right. Never in a million years did a girl's name sounded this beautiful, he may be overreacting but it was a moment of transcendental orchestra sent from heaven. She's a fucking angel in heels!

"How can you be so sure that I won't beat you?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I just do. Besides, it's not like you hold champion titles in pool"

Natsu shot her a smug look. "You don't know that. If you must know, I was famous back in college for kicking ass in pool. So basically, I could beat you"

She smirked and that was all it took to give her the slightest of opportunity to place a bullet through his head with the word _Loser_ in it.

The actual challenge slipped Natsu's mind, he continued watching her take her turn after turn. Yes, Lucy was wearing a corporate attire (not fit for a place like this) and somehow, it turns him on. She takes each turn like she's modelling for a magazine cover, leaning forward, sitting over the edge and just plain thinking of the right angle to proceed. But the sight seeing came to an abrupt stop when he noticed two things: The blonde managed to not lose a turn for him and two balls remained on the table. One clear white and one pitch black, which meant that he's about to lose.

Before he could even breathe a single word, Lucy took her last shot at the opposite end of the table. The last ball officially announces her win as it drops into the hole just like his chances. Natsu could only stare in bewilderment as she blows at the end of her stick like scratch, the blonde beauty just pounded his ass without even batting a single eye. How is that even humanely possible? Of course, an average person would at least fail once but unfortunately, not her.

He was still trying to put two in two of how the fuck is this possible, but the more he tried to figure out, the more his brain cramped. This could seriously damage his brain if he continues.

Natsu did not even notice the champion until she whispered in his ear."I told you so, fire dragon" and he could only gape like a fish as one thought never left his mind. _How does she know the mascot of Fairy Tail?_

* * *

 **Okay! This is my second story and this is a short-chaptered story. If you haven't read "Between Two Neighbors" I suggest you read it, it's still on-going :)**

 **Leave a review, follow and favorite! Thanks :D**


	2. Chapter 2

Pool Action

Lucy stormed away from the gaping male, hurriedly striding outside of the bar before he could figure out how to move. Although winning is something she always found fascinating, the shining emblem of Fairy Tail University imprinted on her challenger's jacket perked her interest, it was the spur of the moment that she leaned so close to his ear and whispered. What was she thinking anyway?

She shrugged the anxiety away, replaced by faith and hope towards the gods above—hoping and praying that Erza is finished talking to the server because if she isn't, walking away dramatically from the pinkette would be such a waste. When she finally made it outside, she sighed in relief, surprised that she has been holding her breathe for too long.

"Erza, let's go" The blonde nudged her redhead friend before going over to the passenger seat.

"Oh, thank God you're finally here" Erza breathes out, making her way towards the driver seat.

As if watching her blonde best friend interact with a hot guy isn't enough, she immediately tucked her lips into her signature smirk, Lucy knowing fully well that Erza witnessed the entire scene from a few tables down. Sometimes, the office girl wondered if her best friend only lived for petty teasing and strawberry cakes.

"What's up with the hottie you were talking to earlier?" Erza wiggled her eyes brows teasingly but Lucy seemed unaffected at all.

"Should I be the one asking you that?" She crossed her arms over her chest. Then, almost as if right on cue, the redhead blushed, similar to the color of her hair.

"Well... His name is Jellal and he just asked me out on a date... I mean, technically not a date but he asked me out for coffee" Lucy watched her twirl a strand of her hair over her finger just like a girl and when Erza acts like a girl, she knew that she's embracing the idea of them having small versions of themselves running around.

"It is a date, you idiot... And you're obviously going" This time, it was her turn to wiggle her eye brows back but instead of being unaffected, the redhead playfully slapped her friend's arm and much to Lucy's liking, it hurts like hell.

"He is pretty cute but... I don't think so" This earned her a look of disbelief from the person sitting beside her.

"What? Why not?"

"Lucy, I'm not gonna lie to you, I enjoyed talking to him but I have so much in my hands right now, you know that right?" And Lucy's not gonna lie either. She did know. Erza is an independent woman and she works her ass off as a part time karate instructor slash part time her assistant slash part time babysitter of a spoiled brat. So, having time for herself is a HUGE problem.

"I know that but why can't you have any fun in life? I told you this before but there's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself" Lucy did not just told her this before, in fact, she told her more than a million times already and her chest hurts every time she witnesses her friend overworking. But she couldn't blame Erza—no, as much as she can, she wanted to help her. Having to pay for the redhead's mom cancer bills all by herself is a huge responsibility and pressure, it's more painful that she won't accept her help.

"It's fine... Maybe it's not just meant to be" Her words did not struck a painful jab on Lucy's chest, it was the sound of her voice and when she looked over with a bitter smile, the blonde knew.

"Erza, call him"

"What?"

"I said call him"

"... Lucy, as much as I want to plunge my tongue in his mouth, I can't"

"Erza, you better stop being such a coward. Seriously-"

"-No, I seriously can't. I don't have his phone number" With that being said, the blonde provided with a few possible solutions. A.) To ask for his number the next day, this will not just benefit the redhead but for Lucy as well, she would be able to play more pool. B.) To do a background check on Jellal Fernandes because she can. Lastly, C.) To just stalk him in social media, not that you need to be that much of a professional to know some private information which leads to option B being inconvenient and most of all irrelevant. And asking for his number is less creepier than stalking.

"I can't believe he asked you out without even giving his number... Does he know that your schedule is irregular?" With a shrug of the redhead's shoulders, Lucy knew her friend did not mention it, here she thought Erza would have been smart in the situation.

"Let's just go back tomorrow" Lucy added and Erza doesn't have much of a choice but to agree. Her friend could be intense if she wanted to and being as smart as she possibly can, she'd agree just this time until the blonde stopped fussing her about it.

* * *

Natsu is not called for being dumb or stupid, he was a hot guy with an average intellect but as of this very moment, the pinkette never in a million years felt so stupid. Of course, Lucy was talking about his jacket, she must have noticed and embarrassingly enough, it took him a good minute to put two in two. And when he finally did, he was too late to catch up with the beautiful blonde. Now, how is he going to find her with nothing more but a drop of a name and her lingering beauty as his piece of information? Sure, the technological generation today is advanced in terms of stalking and spoon-feeding unnecessary information but there are probably a million of girls (maybe even guys) named after the blonde. This is one of those times that Natsu wished that her name isn't Lucy and could ultimately be as unique as possible. Her mother could have named her after a type of cheese or something, like Colbie Jack or Nacho—as if she reminded her of her bright yellow hair.

He sighed in complete and hands down defeat, Lucy's probably not coming back either. The pinkette saw how much she loathed him, well not just him, the entire place was swarming with envious guys when she left. They were all so ready to beat the shit out of him but that doesn't scare Natsu Dragneel—no, it would take an entire army of well-trained professionals with rifles to scare him or he was just being cocky like always.

When he walked back inside, at least his friends were all ready to leave, finally. They were waving good byes to their cute, little girlfriends when he saw them.

"Where did you ran off to?" Gray asked, suspiciously watching his best friend grin from ear to ear. Well, actually he knew, he was actually impressed that the idiot was the only one that managed to step into the territory of the untouchable blonde. He was watching them and to him, it was like watching Tom & Jerry in HD.

"I was with a chic earlier, did you see her?" Natsu was proud, you can tell by the puff of his already muscular chest.

"What? You mean the blonde girl you were with?" The blunette only wanted to see his reaction and like always, Natsu was a running fool for a beautiful girl who is clearly so out of his league. Gray is not being a pessimistic bastard, it's reality. It's not like his friend can't get a girl, actually, Natsu knows how to sweep a girl off her feet with a raise of his shot glass but unfortunately for him, the blonde is not the type of girl to be _that_ impressed, Gray knew she was far different, way different from all the girls Natsu dated or took into his apartment.

But nonetheless, today was different. Natsu wasn't supposed to be excited over a girl who kind of rejected him, Gray took that particular detail unaffectedly when she always walked to the opposite direction where his friend is. And when a girl rejected Natsu, he would shrug his shoulders and move on to the next and so on and so forth—the cycle continues, though it's really a giant question mark that he's acting all different.

"Yeah... She beat the shit out of me in pool! She didn't even lose a damn turn!"

Gray raised his brows at this, well that's new. Natsu used to be so good in pool until he figured out that he could use it to impress women, it turned into just that. It was such a shame that his skills were flushed down the toilet. But, he was still good, the blunette never won a round with him. Not even his friends could beat him.

"Guess there's a first time for everything"

"Not just that, I caught her name... Her name's Lucy!" His best friend beamed and he resisted the urge to take a picture of him. Natsu was so out of character today, Gray wanted to meet this particular girl.

"She is pretty hot" No doubt in that. All of them noticed her but they felt like they shouldn't mess with her. It's like, there's a benevolent force of fury surrounding her, not that they would know that, that force is in shape of a woman's body with fire red hair and dark, sharp eyes.

They all settled in the car, Natsu as the driver because he had the least amount of alcohol in his body. The girls they met were hardcore drinkers, they didn't even come close but that's besides the point, the pinkette was still slightly mad at them for not giving him a heads up.

"You could have at least told me you were meeting with someone" He mentioned to the guy beside him, which is Gray.

"If we did, you won't come with us and wouldn't have met Lucy" It's a win-win— meeting Lucy prevented his best friend from getting banned into another bar and with him out their table, there's a 0% chance of embarrassing themselves in front of the girls. Plus, Gray only invited him because he didn't trust him with his other friends, Cobra and another guy who isn't worth remembering the name of.

"Well, you guys are still assholes"

"Whatever you say, Dragneel" Is a line when Gray isn't buying Natsu's bullshit. It was sort of an "I told you so" when the pinkette was whining about how small and weird the place is, but to be completely honest, he was just being overly dramatic. The bar isn't the best but it isn't nearly that bad either, there were a lot of regular customers and they are all pretty decent people, that's how they met those blue-haired girls after all.

"Hey, let's go to Cana's house! I heard there's a party going on!" One of the guys at the back suggested and almost everyone were agreeing, musing about how great her parties were and free booze is free booze, right?

"Nah, I think I'll pass" The huge hype in the vehicle died down immediately, they were all gaping at none other than Natsu who REJECTED a party. Not just a regular party, but Cana's party. Cana is a good friend of them. Luckily for them, the brunette hosts the best party in all of Fiore, when you wish to be there, you would wish the party would never end. At least, that's what the pinkette cheered the last time he was there.

"What?! You?! Of all people, you don't want to go?!" Laxus' voice boomed at the back in disbelief.

"Yeah, who are you again? Are you even Natsu?" Another voice piped in, it was Loke.

"I mean, I would have understood if Laxus didn't want to go, but you?!-"

"-Hey, what is that supposed to mean?!"

It's not long until they started throwing lousy insults at each other, the subject matter forgotten. The driver was about to exhale a breathe of relief when the guy beside him pushed a few more buttons.

"So, is this because of Lucy?" Gray wiggled his brows creepily, it just annoyed the pinkette more.

"No, you stripper. I'm tired. I haven't slept. And you are all too loud" Although the statement is true, it was only half of it. Natsu barely had time for himself, and even if he does it was only for sleeping. Somehow, he just wanted to stay home until he was ready to party again. In fact, he might return to Cana's house soon if he wanted to, he easily gets bored anyway.

"Is that so?" Gray was still not convinced.

"Yes, I just wanna rest"

"Fine, just drop us off in front of her house and if you change your mind, you know that we're still with Cana"

* * *

If Lucy had known that her friend's weakness is not just in a form of soft crust and strawberry frosting—but also, in a form of a guy with ocean blue hair and dark smoldering eyes, she would have used him against her because the redhead is being unreasonable. Her friend is refusing to go inside the bar, finding enough stupid reasons to excuse herself. Really, Lucy was not expecting her friend, usually known for being fierce and brave to wave her white flag for just one guy, a server in particular.

"Lucy, this is a bad idea. Why don't we go for coffee instead?" Erza pivoted her body away from the door, her face flustered red and coated in sweat.

"You know I don't like coffee and stop it, we're already here..." But even before Lucy could give enough reasons to convince her, she started shaking her head.

"No?" Her friend shakes her head.

Okay. This is where it leads to. The blonde braced herself in a stance she usually does when the board members are not listening to her. She clawed her pink polished nails on the curve of her waist, chocolate eyes slanting in mock anger. Some times, Erza wondered how her friend could turn so serious within a millisecond and her stance is not to be joked around with. Her soul sister can be sassy and terrifying at the same time if she wanted to, the Lucy stance usually and will always get to her.

"If you don't go inside right now for the next three seconds. I will drag Jellal right here, it's your call" The redhead's eyes widened in surprise, it's her call to read her friend's actions. She doubts that she can anyway, maybe she's just bluffing.

"You wouldn't" She dared. As the blonde smirked, cracking the door open, enough to leave some space, Lucy yelled.

"Jellal! Jellal Fernandes-" The blonde immediately struggled when her best friend cupped her mouth with her hand.

"Alright, Alright fine! But please never do that... Ever again!" Lucy cheered in triumph before taking her friend by the shoulders.

"Wait, you need to freshen up" She produced a compact powder through her bag, instantly wiping Erza's face dry with the light powder.

As they went inside, the redhead's admirer immediately spotted her, flashing a grin that could only mean sexy to Erza but ridiculous to Lucy. At least she did her part, her best friend is walking up to him right now. Now that's all done, she turned towards the pool table, a gorgeous smile curling upon her lips when no one was playing.

* * *

Gray Fullbuster thought going to Cana's party was a mistake, a terrible mistake. It was horrible, the price he had to pay is a third degree hangover with embarrassing photos tagging him in all of social media. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Heck, even on Fairy Tail University Offical Page. You name it, he's there. His butt sticking out in the air with Cana pulling his jeans dangerously lower. A full body shot of him naked, being his hands shielding whatever dignity he had left. Another hideous photo of being vomited by none other than Elfman. Those photos became ridiculous than the next, it was embarrassing that there are over 300+ photos of him present within different scenarios and he doesn't even remember half of it.

He felt envious of Natsu, the flame brains was lucky that he passed, he'll probably yell in his ears "I told you so" if he saw how awful he looked right now. The party ended at ten in the morning, what party ends that late anyway? Apparently, he wasn't ready for the newly improved wilder and heavier version. Gray shouldn't have underestimated Cana's taunts for a drinking game, he was already drunk after the 6th shot.

And now, he has to spend his entire morning drinking crappy coffee at the pool bar with big ass black frames covering half of his face. Gray just looked horrible and when he admits that he looks horrible, the only solution is the glasses. That or never look at someone in the face every again. He took another sip of his coffee, bitter and stale but that's the best he could get right now. This place is the only one that exists that hasn't been invaded by white girls getting wasted or drunk guys grinding into someone's butt. He just needed a break, he thanked the heavenly bodies for creating such a place of solitude.

Well, not until a shriek of an animal interrupted the said solitude.

""Jellal! Jellal Fernandes-"

Holy crap! Gray almost spilled hot coffee on his shaft. He had a mini heart attack when he saved the cup before it did. He swore, whatever that animal was screaming over the door, he'll give it a piece of his mind once it steps inside. It's bad enough that the hangover is slowly killing him but now, he's really in a bad mood to deal with decency like a normal person should.

A blonde along with a redhead stepped inside, he almost spilled his coffee twice. Gray recognized the gorgeous blonde immediately but he wasn't sure about the redhead though. So, he was wrong. It wasn't an it, It's a she. That apparently is Lucy, who's making her way to the empty pool table right now.

He needs to tell Natsu about this. So, faster than the speed of light, he conspicuously took a picture of the flame brain's dream girl. It comes across as both stalkerish and creepy, it's a good thing no one caught him.

 **To: Pink Asshole**  
1 Attachment

 _Hey stupid! Your dream blonde is working on the stick again..._

The picture was so good, a professional photographer would have asked him how it speaks a thousand words. Thank technology for smartphone cameras. Lucy was polishing the end of her stick while looking at the pool table, it was like she knew that she's being photographed, that she modeled.

It's not long after, his phone buzzed.

 **From: Pink Asshole**

 _On my way right now! Are there guys with her?_

Gray knew he couldn't resist Lucy, he glanced at the pool table. Well, there is one right now. A tall guy with spiky, blonde hair that's just slightly a different shade than hers and he doesn't look that bad. In fact, she's interacting with him.

 **To: Pink Asshole**

 _Yep, there is... And it looks like she's entertaining him_

He is not usually the nosy type but this is the only thing killing his boring free time right now. That guy is suddenly playing pool with her and it looks like she's enjoying it. This is not good if Natsu saw this, he'll probably set something on fire.

His phone buzzed.

 **From: Pink Asshole**

 _Is he a catch for her? Can you rate him? I'm not even close, the traffic is killing me!_

What Natsu meant is to judge the guy physically and Gray doesn't know what to answer, he feels uncomfortable with the question, the idiot could have asked him something else. But the blunette observed anyway. The guy is at least a head taller than Lucy, if he squint long enough, he could see that the other blonde has blue eyes. And he's physically toned, exposed through the black tank top and slim jeans. Gray loathed Natsu for asking him to check a guy out, the pink asshole so owes him.

 **To: Pink Asshole**

 _Tall guy, blue eyes and working out... And I don't want to rate him! Geez!_

Gray doesn't even need to put his phone down when it buzzed again.

 **From: Pink Asshole**

 _TAKE A PICTURE! I WANNA SEE HIS FACE! YOU'RE PROBABLY LYING TO ME, YOU ICE FREAK!_

Gray is struggling between cursing directly at his phone or throwing the damned thing across the room. He was still in rage over the whole night of mistakes, he fully regrets telling Natsu in the first place. But being a proper citizen of Fiore, he decided to take another picture.

And it's like heaven is telling him to become an official photographer because Lucy was facing the guy with a huge smile on her face, the other blonde did the same. Their sticks touching (this is not in any form a euphemism for anything), as a sort of sign.

 **To: Pink Asshole**  
1 Attachment

 _STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO! AND I'M NOT LYING!_

* * *

Lucy was playing all by herself again and the peace and quiet was far more longer and enjoyable than before because two things changed. First, there weren't a lot of guys interrupting her own spacial bubble. And second, Erza's finally enjoying herself. It was enough to trigger that she's happy for her as well.

Another _thunk_ and the ball drops into the hole.

"Lucy?"

She glanced at the source of the voice, who is apparently someone so familiar with the similar color of her hair and shining blue eyes. It was Sting Eucliffe, her not so serious fling back in college. The gorgeous blonde (Lucy, in case you're confused) knew she recognized him from somewhere. Somehow, he looked more attractive than before, he was so tall now that he gazed down at her. His eyes were in its usual shade of midnight blue and his jaw was carved, along with his other handsome features. And she could tell that he has been working out with the way his arms flexed when he took another stick from the rack.

"Sting?" She had to say his name just to be sure. Lucy had never mentioned nor said his name in a long time since college.

"Yeah, it's me! How have you been, Lulu?" The official other blonde named Sting beamed enthusiastically, he shook her small hand.

Now that's a nickname she haven't heard in a long time as well. Only Sting called her Lulu and she used to think it was cute but now, she has absolutely no idea.

"I've been great! I work at a publishing company with Erza... Do you still know her?" She beamed back, it was sort of like she's copying his enthusiasm.

"Oh, that's nice. Erza? You mean, Erza Scarlet?"

Lucy nodded.

"Of course I do. Who wouldn't forget the terror girl, Tatiana?" That's also another nickname that she haven't heard in a long time. She can't believe that he still remembered. Although you can never forget Erza for terrorizing the whole school just because you piss her off, that's like her asset back then.

When Lucy lost a turn, Sting stepped in, hitting the green ball into the hole.

She grinned. It was actually nice seeing him.

"What about you? How's life?"

"Well, I've been helping Rogue with the family business... I was just about to meet up with someone but they decided to not show up" Oh, that's right. Rogue, along with his younger brother had this huge chain of restaurants scattered in all of Fiore and it was like a dynasty thing where they pass the business from person to person.

"That sucks... Now, I on the other hand, is being a helpful friend. I'm helping Erza hook up with that guy she's talking to right now" She motioned towards the unofficial couple, both sitting at the far end table.

"And are you doing a good job?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "It looks like it"

He shoots another ball. "...So, what position are you holding?"

"Executive Assistant" She beamed proudly. It's a position to take pride upon, nobody has ever been promoted as an EA and there she was to prove them wrong. It felt nice to read manuscripts of aspiring authors much like herself and it felt good that you help them fulfill their dreams. Even though it's a pain in the neck sometimes.

"As expected from the valedictorian" He mused back.

"Excuse me, but who owns almost every restaurant in town?"

They both heartily laughed. She admits it, it felt really nice talking to him. Well, she knows that it's always a really good talk when you catch up with someone. Their reason of separation was long ago forgotten, they broke up in good terms anyway. So there's really no reason for her to avoid or glare daggers at him.

Sting accidentally glanced at his wrist watch and his eyes widened for a second. "Shit..."

"Lulu, it was nice seeing you but before I go, here's my cell... Let's catch up some time. It's really nice talking to you" He quickly handed her a small, thin card. Showing his full name imprinted on the center with his cellphone number at the bottom, below is also his work title. _Restaurant Owner._

* * *

Gray watched as the other blonde hurriedly exits the bar and it looked like he just successfully handed her his phone number. He figured that Natsu should take lessons from this guy, Lucy isn't defying the guy, in fact, she took the card with gratitude. His friend stopped responding since the picture, he figured that he lost some sort of interest. Oh well...

His cup of coffee was already cold when Lucy along with her redhead friend left a few minutes later. They were musing about what transpired today and he avoided eavesdropping in their conversation, he's already stalkerish the moment he took her photo.

Now that his fun ended, along with his coffee, he was about to stand up and leave until a panting pinkette appeared before the door. His hair had a terrible case of bad hair day and his clothes were wrinkled, he looked like he just woke up and Gray couldn't be wrong with this one.

"Where is she?" No, Natsu did not lose his interest. It was kind of surprising that he's taking too long to move on from this particular girl. Too bad that he was too late.

"You lost. She just went with him" Gray should win a best friend award, he just wanted to see the look on his face.

And it was totally worth it. Natsu gaped at him like a fish and he looked terrible, more terrible than how Gray looked actually. He was actually surprised that there's something more hideous than his stupid ass sunglasses.

He wiped a tear away from too much laughter before slapping the flame brain's shoulder lightly. "I'm just playing with you! They all left separately"

Gray swore he saw a flicker of relief in his eyes, if it wasn't relief then he doesn't know what is.

* * *

 **So what do you think of this chapter? :D I've been so into the third person perspective, and I'm really so surprised by the amount of support already put in this story! Thank you, now I'm really hyped for this story ^_^**

 **If you haven't read "Between Two Neighbors" I suggest you do, it's a long fic and is still on-going.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

 **Pari forever ft** OMG! You are one of the best supporters I have :") Thank you for the huge compliment, I'm really flattered! Kyaa! ." And reallly, you just told me everything was perfect, I couldn't stop smiling XD I never thought I would be praised for the third person perspective, it's honestly my first time, hehe. Aww, writing is one of my favorite hobby and it's really not a bad idea to publish a book hihi, but I think I'm gonna be an architect some day though or an engineer. I don't know, whatever fits with me xD. I think I'll stop now... Again, thank you so much! love ya!

 **FairyTailF.T** thanks for the support! :)

 **MissCelestialHeart** Oh! I'm glad you clarified that part because I was confused as hell xD! I thought another account was confused and responded in your name lol! Again, thanks you for the constant support xD you're one of the best!

 **Let me know what you think, follow and favorite!**

 **byee**


	3. Chapter 3

Pool Action

Natsu Dragneel is described to be many things, and they were all pretty similar. He's fun. Energetic. Happy-go-lucky type of guy. But today seemed off, along with the whole week that passed. The pinkette has been hanging out in the ice freak's house lately and the owner was going crazy with his best friend's attitude. He may or may not whined about not seeing the beautiful blonde, along with finding out who the other blonde is. At first it was funny, flame brains did not even stop him from taking a video. But as time passed, it wasn't funny anymore, it was fucking annoying. Here he thought, Natsu would get over Lucy in two days prior because it was the longest he could take. But unfortunately not this girl.

And it happened over one completely normal Monday afternoon, the pink asshole barged in his home with a grumpy attitude. "STING EUCLIFFE" The said asshole motioned for his cellphone screen, a little too close on Gray's face. It had the second picture he sent him.

"What?"

"Sting Eucliffe, this is the guy's name! Of course, Lucy accepted his number... He's a goddamn restaurant owner but get this..." He was pacing back and forth in front of the blunette like a psycho, covering Gray's live basketball game.

"He's not an owner of not one, not two, not three but over several restaurants in Fiore! That's just—wow! And have you seen this guy's face up close? His jaw is fucking carved by angels! Along with the rest of him! This is so stupid, do you wanna know why?" Okay, Natsu was acting weird and Gray just wants to watch his game. His team is losing, damn it!

"Because you're not making any sense?" And he didn't even insult him back, he just continued rambling on and on.

"No! Because this guy is taunting me! He's practically rubbing it on my face just because he owns a lot of restaurants! Or-or he's famous! Or he gave her his number..." Well, there are many things that Gray could point out that Natsu's "reading between the lines" is wrong. First, the blonde is not taunting him, he doesn't even know the pinkhead exists in the first place! He might be surprised that a guy with natural salmon hair exists. Next, the blonde is also not rubbing it on his face. Again, because he doesn't know that the idiot exists and their rivalry is only one-sided. Third, his best friend is only assuming a lot of things. Thus, the whole thing is a giant pile of absolute bullshit.

"You're still not making any sense"

"I bet he's friends with the gods! Playing poker with Zeus and whatever... It's really stupid" Finally, his best friend sinks beside him and Gray raised a brow at this. He knew what was happening to him, he could play being in denial but whether he admits it or not, Natsu's just intimidated by Sting Eucliffe. And guys feel that all the time, when two guys like the same girl and one of them is slightly a better version, it's a little leg-shaking.

But Gray had to commend Natsu for finding out who the guy is. I mean, they tried looking for Lucy. The pinkette tried hard but there were about 7,100 results to begin with and it's just half of Fiore. "Well, I gotta say, congrats on successfully stalking the dude"

"He's easier to find" That's right, when Natsu searched the top famous people in Fiore (out of sheer curiosity, thinking that he's included), that guy is ranked 17th. He loathed the way every color suits the blonde, along with wearing a lot of different suits. He bets that the guy wears them in his sleep. The pinkette also learned that the guy studied in Sabertooth University, one of the country's well-known exclusive college for the rich and the genius. Just perfect.

"Here I thought this couldn't be any more stupid... He studied in Sabertooth U for fuck's sake! I don't understand how there's someone made for Lucy, this is stupid" His best friend whined, blocking the commentary of the game. Gray drifts his attention towards Natsu, he's so jealous, it's the perfect material for future blackmailing.

So, he took his phone from his pocket, started the video and then he waits for the magic to happen. Gray already thought that flame brain would throw his phone across the room, instead of that happening, he fully faced the camera, not even bothered by the slightest of how jealous he looked.

"That's right you heard me, people! This is not just by random chance, the gods made Sting Eucliffe for Lucy. He's not even human anymore, he's a prophet of restaurants owners and carved jaws, and men in black suits, and everything that's awesome. And right now, right now, maybe she's calling his number! It's stupid, I know!" Gray snickered in the background, watching his friend's face morph into disgust and emphasized hand signals.

That's Gray's Monday afternoon. Soon, with a blink of an eye it's suddenly Saturday—everybody's day off. When the blunette stepped out of the shower, he was surprised to find Natsu sitting on the floor, cross-legged. The pinkette was too busy looking at the second attachment, muttering gibberish nonsense for the nth time. And Gray did not appreciate his nickname flashing on Natsu's phone. _Emo Stripper._

He casually dressed himself with some pants that he found on the floor and a clean blue shirt. When he passed by the idiot lying on the floor-

"-He probably took her into his hotel or whatever, maybe his penthouse for all I care" Okay, that was it. Gray has had enough of the whining, the emotional fits and most of all, the peculiar disappearance of his leftovers from the fridge. Natsu had to seriously go home and leave him, and his house alone. The blunette snatched the phone from his hands which earned him a loud "HEY!" straight from his ears and of course, an insult.

"Listen, I'm really tired of your bullshit. If you don't get yourself together, Lucy's not just calling him but she's probably enjoying a seafood lunch by now... And maybe tonight, they'll take their little party in his room" Gray had to be straight forward about this. He's not going to patiently wait for him, that's not how things work with them.

Natsu grew speechless, it's the longest that he never uttered a word.

"You're right. She's way out of my league... I should stop this" Gray watched as Natsu's hope crumbled, it was as if he was the last man standing when the planet gave up on everything. Goddamn it, he doesn't have a soft spot for Natsu, he will never have a sensitive spot related to Natsu. But watching his friend "give up" is a sad, sad thing to begin with.

"And to think that we might have went into the same university... Well, never mind. I should stop talking about her" The blunette snapped his head at Natsu, the idiot never told him about this piece of information before. It's pretty valuable, he can't help but stick his nose around.

"She went to Fairy Tail?" He sounded too enthusiastic for the pinkette's liking, he narrowed his eyes at Gray suspiciously.

"I think so... She knows the mascot but that's it" It could still count for something. Gray did not mean to smack his friend right across his head in the first place but that's what he did for not spilling this information in the first place. This is still worth a shot.

Gray will do anything to kick Natsu out of his house, if he has to encourage the idiot, so be it. "You idiot, forget everything I said... You still have a chance, why didn't you tell me this in the first place?"

Natsu is just as confused. "Tell you what?"

"About Fairy Tail... I could have solved your whiny ass long ago... Come on, let's find her"

It doesn't take a professional to stalk someone. All you need is internet and common sense which the pinkette lacked. Gray figured that the amount of Lucy(s) who studied in the university is lesser than searching for her in the entire country. And he's right, the number of Lucy(s) appeared before the search results is fewer. That's how they begin stalking, Fairy Tail University is one of those colleges that still kept the records of those who graduated, it's even surprising that Gray was still in the page. But with that aside, with a little more clicking here and there, wasting approximately more than an hour, they come across a _Lucy Heartfilia._

Gray never clicked a name so fast in his life, it was the internet's fault that the page stopped loading. And since the blunette had a short patience for loading screens, he gave the mouse to Natsu.

Lucy's graduation picture appeared on the left, along with the rest of her background information on the right. Natsu stared at her sultry look, even in a toga, he still thought she looked hot and beautiful.

 **Name:** Lucky Lucy Heartfilia  
 _"There's nothing happy about having your fate decided for you! You have to grab your own happiness!"_  
 **Batch:** 2011-2012  
 **Graduate of:** BS Business Management & Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing  
 _Lucy Heartfilia is one of the most outstanding students of Fairy Tail University. She's an ultimate role model of the college that everyone just loves. She is more than just a pretty face, she possesses a heart of gold and the strength of a lion. Being the valedictorian, mathlete's champion and a good daughter. How does she do it?_  
 **Titles & Awards: **Valedictorian of Batch 2011-2012. Mathlete's Champion for 2 consecutive years. Champion Title Holder of the North and South Women's Division in Pool (2009). Champion Title Holder of the Lauren Cup (2009). Champion Title Holder of the Sea Games Pacific (2010).  
 **Miscellaneous:** Lucky Lucy Heartfilia is also known as the Pool Queen during her Senior Year for having the most number of awards and titles in Pool. She is also addressed as the Golden Girl of Fiore for winning international competitions (ex: Sea Games Pacific). She is also nominated and voted as the college's sweetheart.

Natsu couldn't help but re-read the whole thing. His eyes entirely focusing on her batch because he realized they both went and graduated in the university in a close time interval. He wondered why he never saw her, not even once, especially how she's so popular from all the titles and awards.

"They're on the other side, if that's what you're thinking" Gray answered.

* * *

Lucy Heartfilia was just chilling on the sofa, watching a marathon of her favorite series—a bowl of popcorn on top of her legs. She was making the most out of her day off, along with Erza who practically barged in her home with a slice of strawberry cake in one hand. Their day offs always consisted of a marathon, the cozy couch and their guilty pleasures. They weren't the shopping kind of pair, or the partying kind. Well, at least not for now anyway. The blonde noticed that Erza's phone would buzz every now and then, it was kind of annoying.

"Erza, who are you texting? Is it Jellal?" Erza answered with a blush, the redhead was unable to take her attention away from her phone. It seemed that she is texting him, even though the blonde supports that guy as her friend's possible love interest, it's really annoying hearing a high-pitched _Ding!_ every time one of her favorite actors spoke.

"It's kind of annoying... We're watching" The popcorn holder motioned at the television which is now clearly being ignored.

"Lucy, if you're jealous, you have Sting's number anyway" Lucy had no words to say, there's something wrong about Erza's suggestion.

"I'm not jealous. I just can't hear his love confession to Lili" And that's happening on screen right now. A cute brunette dancing with a very charismatic guy and they looked very in love. The guy was talking and it looked heartfelt, Lucy guessed he was confessing his undying love but that was it, she can't hear another damned thing!

"Oh, I'm sorry" She finally puts her phone away, fully-paying attention towards the television screen. Thank goodness.

"... But why don't you call Sting or at least text him?" Lucy groaned, an intelligent hint that her friend is not giving her the peace and quiet she deserves. And also, because she could think of a lot of reasons why. 1.) Sting is her ex, college years to be exact. 2.) There's a universal code that you shouldn't talk, interact and call exes. 3.) Erza's not the matchmaker, it's supposed to be her.

But she gave a short, brief answer. "It's because I don't want to"

Erza pulls her attention to her friend, a look of both confusion and bewilderment in her eyes. "What? I saw you having fun with him, last time I checked" She's doing it again. It's really bothersome for Lucy that her best friend looks out for her like an overprotective mother, this sort of moments makes her doubt if Erza is really her mother.

She shuddered at the thought. Creepy.

"Just because I was talking to him doesn't mean I want to rekindle our past relationship..." Which is true, Lucy had no meticulous intentions of getting back together with him. Sure, they broke up in good terms and had a healthy relationship but she's not the type of girl who'd want to repeat history.

Erza was about to object, Lucy knew she'd talk her out of it until her ears bled. That's what they always do anyway (but she's not expecting this "talk"), not looking forward to it at all.

This time, those annoying _Ding!_ sounds stopped, and is replaced by a series of obnoxious trumpet noises that's 10x even more annoying. "Hello?" The redhead answered.

"Oh hey! Why'd you call?" Erza beamed at whoever's on the other line which is clearly Jellal by the way, and Lucy took a mental note of how her friend's voice changed. More importantly, she never knew that she would be thankful that the server called. The blonde sighed in relief which the redhead noticed, she held the phone away from her ear, standing up.

"I'll talk to you later. We're not done" At least there's a small chance that she'll forget. Lucy should probably bake two strawberry cakes for her, in case she does remember. And does mean every word she just said.

In the middle of yet another conflict in the story and a half-empty bowl of popcorn later, Lucy's phone started to _Ding!_ like it demands for attention, it's a good thing that Erza's outside. It feels hypocritical by now, and weird because not in a million years did she received a lot of notifications. When she checked her phone, her chocolate brown eyes narrowed at the screen—trailing the pop ups stretching more and more. It was still on-going. And from one person only.

"NatsuD?" She questioned, as her thumb swiped at the screen for more notifications all over her social media.

 _NatsuD started following you. (1min)_

 _NatsuD liked your photo.(34w)_

 _NatsuD liked your photo.(10w)_

 _NatsuD liked your photo.(4w)_

 _NatsuD liked your photo.(1d)_

 _Natsu Dragneel followed you on Twitter._

 _Natsu Dragneel added you on Facebook._

That's not even half of it. This guy liked every photo, every profile picture and every photo tagged all over her accounts. She finds it suspicious that he's doing this for a purpose, something dark and malicious, maybe. That or she's watching too much crime investigations lately. But other than that, when Lucy looked at his feed, she realized many things at once. She remembers this guy, he was her challenger. Apparently, Natsu Dragneel is his full name. And also, he might have figured out the Fairy Tail thingy.

 _Oh._ She thought. It is him.

Her marathon ended two minutes ago of her not noticing but other than, she doesn't have anything else to do anyway. Might as well stalk the person who stalked you first. With that being said, Lucy started with his instagram, Natsu had an odd fascination for his blue cat—claiming that he swore with every fiber of his being, that its fur is naturally blue as his caption. She chuckled.

Another thing about him, he's an engineer. At least according to one of his photos, where his arms were stretched out like a wing span with a towering building behind him. _My first skyscraper_ as his caption. Really, she never took him as an engineer. Like what she said before, he looked like a model slash actor.

Overall, Lucy wasted at least 2 hours stalking her challenger, she didn't even realize the time until it was too late. Her phone died.

* * *

That day when they finally, oh god finally, caught her full identity—Natsu was grinning from ear to ear full blast. And even if Gray admitted it or not, he was happy for him because he wasn't sulking like an idiot and he was finally ready to go home. The blunette was milliseconds a bit worried for the pinkhead's little sister, Wendy. She might have starved herself to death or got kidnapped by some weird guys offering free candies but his wild imagination stopped when he remembered that the kid is smarter than her big brother. Wendy cooked their food, shops for groceries and basically do the things that an adult should be doing (not a euphamism, god no!).

But when the pinkette was about to leave, his smile morphed into a doubtful look. "This is stupid... I did not graduate from Sabertooth! I don't own restaurants—heck, I don't even have a suit"

When Gray said he would do anything to snap his friend out of it and to just damn leave, he'll do anything, even to encourage the idiot if he has to. "Go home, Natsu" He shoved his friend right outside the door with him throwing insults and complaining about how ugly his apartment is anyway.

"Well fine, I'll talk to you later, stripper"

"-Hey flame brain" Natsu turned around, his signature taunt already in place.

"Since when did you settle for second best?" Now, this stopped the pinkette and Gray left it just like that as he closed his apartment door. Natsu still stood there like an idiot, the stripper's words haunting his mind. He was right though, Natsu never in a million years settled for second best or third or fourth, he settled being the best. He's not the right guy to give up, Natsu realized this when his first plan was approved, when he's considered to be one of the best engineers out there—clearly not taking it for what it was before.

He smirked. "That's right... I don't" He could just imagine the beautiful blonde saying his name like she's begging.

He took his phone out while he walked. Appreciating—not stalking, but appreciating Lucy Heartfilia's beauty and wits, he kind of reminds him of his childhood friend when he was little. But that's beside the point, the pinkette started with her instagram.

Typing her name on search, appearing as the one on top. _LuckyLH._ He followed her without hesitation.

Natsu started from the very bottom. Her first photo. Lucy was wearing a polo shirt and some pants, standing behind a pool table. _My first international competition back in college. P.S I used to be cool._ As her caption. He chuckled.

That's how it started, staring at each photo for a good minute and then liking it after. He learned a few things about her. So, Lucy works at a boring company as an Executive Assistant, shown as the gorgeous girl sitting on a swiveling chair, cross-legged. In her new office for being promoted. There were several photos after that, each one being more interesting than before.

And so, the pinkette decided that her instagram is not enough, so he searched for her on Twitter and Facebook. Luckily, she has everything. He decided that he wanted to talk to her, or at least talk to her through social media.

 _Hey Luce... Remember me? ;)_ He commented in her latest instagram post which was three hours ago.

* * *

Lucy thanked the heavenly bodies for sparing her from Erza's wrath. Her friend had no time to explain, so she kept it short and brief. Apparently, a dad needed a babysitter and he's offering a high pay if she managed to get his daughter to sleep before bed time. That's weird but a high pay is a high pay, without any more complaining, the redhead bid farewell and then left. As for Lucy, she just charged her phone and then took a nice shower.

When she passed by, clad only in a white towel, her phone lit up with another notification.

 _NatsuD left a comment on your photo: LuckyLH Hey Luce... Remember me? ;) (2h)_

Luce? Did he just gave her a nickname? She strides away to dress up, a few moments later, she took her phone and eyed the comment for a long time. Somehow, there's something familiar about that name, Luce. And even if she doesn't say it out loud, she likes it.

So, she left a comment for him as well.

* * *

 **Okay, so I will be going away for a while, this will be my last update before I leave. I'm gonna go out of town again with my family, the next update would probably be at Sunday or Monday :) I'm so sorry for the long wait but I still have school, I have to work hard for my grades. Hope you understand and don't miss me too much ;))**

 **Important question:** How do you feel about lemons? (not the fruit, if that's what you're thinking)

 **Also, if you haven't read "Between Two Neighbors" I suggest you do :) it's a long story and is still on-going.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

 **fanman963** LOL, could you imagine me falling over my chair for writing the chapter? Cuz, that's what happened XD anyway, thanks for the support :)

 **MissCelestialHeart** hehehe, I don't have words to say right now. So I'll just grin like an idiot xD

 **Pari forever ft** Hihi, It was mentioned before. Sting is Lucy's ex, they were together back in college :) sorry but the next update will be released a few days longer :( hope you understand :)

 **FairyTailF.T** lol, thanks :) am i cool yet?

 **p3ppermintt** I fully understand :) please take your time for your story, I understand what you mean XD but thanks for reading anyway. hihi

 **fangirlsweg** yep indeed you are, and thanks for pointing that out. I might edit the whole thing next time :) lol, you really know where this is leading... or do you? 0.0"

 **Another Important question:** Do you have a tumblr?

 **Please answer the two questions through a review, I'm thinking of something and you guys are the best source for help right now :)**

 **byee**


	4. Chapter 4

Pool Action

As Natsu crossed the road, he heard his cell ring with two familiar _Ding_ (s) which indicated that it's from his social media. So, he checked right after when he's safely on the other side. His natural lopsided grin couldn't be any more wider. Apparently, _that_ indication is from Lucy Heartfilia.

 _LuckyLH left a comment on your photo: NatsuD Why are you stalking me, challenger?_ The pop-out read. Well, it also indicated that the beautiful girl remembered him. She just chose the very first photo in his feed to comment on, a candid shot of him, celebrating his sister's birthday. Natsu liked how she's being ironic.

So, he did the same. He swiped his thumb to the very bottom of her page and pressed comment. _"Not stalking... Internet gives out information (ex: your last name) for free... And so does my coffee treat ;)"_

Somehow, coffee does sound great to him right now. So, he strides into the nearest coffee shop to get himself a steaming cup of black coffee with a shot of vanilla. It wasn't long until his phone made that sound again while he was in line.

 _LucyLH left a comment on your photo: NatsuD Yes, adding and following me doesn't sound creepy and stalkerish at all. And... Did your coffee treat came from the internet? Is that what you're trying saying?_ Natsu understands that she meant it as a turn down for his offer with a wrinkled coy attitude. He raised a brow at this with a slight chuckle, getting more interested. There's something about Lucy that excites him though.

 _"Clever girl. But all I'm asking is if you want to go for coffee with-"_ A girl's voice interrupted.

"-Um... W-what's your or-order, Sir?" Natsu watched in amusement as the counter girl stammered, her eyes looking else where but him. To be completely honest with himself, he's used to this. It's a common reaction for women every time he's around or they are in need to talk to him, like so.

"I'll have a pure black coffee with a shot of vanilla" To prove his point, he flashes her a gorgeous smile, one that would work in most cases, just like this one. The pinkette heard her inaudible gasp before she stammered some more and then proceeded to his order.

Natsu waits for his order as he finishes his comment. It's really difficult to guess what that Lucy could be thinking, it's actually intriguing that he can't predict what she's going to say. He was actually surprised that she replied faster this time.

 _LucyLH left a comment on your photo: NatsuD I'm sorry, I have to pass... I don't know you that much, you could be a kidnapper or something._ He frowned. This hasn't been the first time he got rejected, in fact, there are countless of times. But this never happened to him before—getting rejected twice in a row, with the same girl. He's slightly appalled that he's letting her do this to him, without exerting much effort. It forces him to ask a sensible question. Why is he bothering with her anyway? It's not like him to act this way. It would only make sense if Lucy's the only girl in world.

But she's not. Proven by the counter girl who appeared in front of him with his drink, a rosy red blush coloring her cheeks which he noticed.

"H-he-here's your order, S-s-sir?"

"Natsu"

"N-natsu" She retorted back with slight amusement as she writes his name on the back of his cup.

The pinkette nodded his head once before retreating from the coffee shop, he left their conversation before he acts any weirder than how he's acting right now. He is a stranger to her after all and she's right, they never met properly. Hence, they just played pool and it's an excuse he should take lightly. Natsu can't believe how much willpower its taking him to not respond, his fingers are practically itching by now.

So, he sips from his coffee. Downing every ounce with one gulp, he saw a few scribbles of a short message on the side.

It read in black marker: **You can call me any time ;) -Trix** with a heart and her number at the bottom. Natsu's not impressed by this, instead, he wished the number wasn't specifically from the counter girl who declared herself to be Trix. Also, her name sounds weird, Natsu concluded. When he threw the empty cup to the bin, he paused—bewildered by the fact that he's thinking and acting differently (throwing a girl's number) because of a certain blonde with a slight obsession of books and keys. It's supposed to be simple though, at least for him anyway. When he gets a number from a girl, especially if the girl deliberately did it, Natsu is not the guy to hesitate but right now, he's acting so different. If Gray or the others saw him like this, they wouldn't believe it's actually him.

He groaned in annoyance once again. God, what is she doing to him?

* * *

Erza chanted a series of complaints in her head. She wished she hadn't agreed to his offer. She wished she was back at home, doing some paper works. She wished she's babysitting another kid. The redhead was a moment too late when she realized that she immediately accepted Igneel's offer. She hates how she's so desperate for money right now, especially for the hospital bills and her rent but that's beside the point. Igneel's daughter is a spoiled brat, a huge pain in the ass who hated her guts the moment her dad asked her to babysit and to think that she should cope with her for a week, it's such a painful thought.

There could have been a lot more ways to earn money but hearing Igneel's voice in a pleading matter softened her steeled heart for the damned brat. She swore, with every fiber of being, that she's not going to babysit her ever again.

But here she is, standing in front of Igneel's doorstep.

With a last intake of fresh air for the week, she rings the doorbell.

"Erza! It's good to see you again" Igneel beamed, giving her a bear-crushing hug. When she first met him at first, Erza thought the man is a narrator of a famous movie, his voice just fits the description. But Mr. Dragneel actually works as a police chief, he was wearing his uniform proudly with pendants and honorary badges indicating his position. She adored him for raising his daughter on his own, especially how he's so busy all the time. Igneel is also kind and approachable, under his indimidating stature and sharp features, he's gentle and so down-to-earth. It's an unsolvable mystery that has been bothering Erza for a while now, of despite his kind nature, his daughter is quite the opposite.

"It's nice to see you too, sir" She struggled before he finally lets go.

The police chief steps aside to get her some room and she dreaded the way she's back inside this particular hellhole. Even though the place is not really that bad, it's a pretty huge house with light-shaded wooden floor and cream white-painted walls. The furniture follow a certain color pattern between dark oak and white and the L-shape couch is already occupied by the girl, the redhead cursed lightly when the girl glanced.

"I'm really thankful that you're here for the whole week. I have an emergency operation to take care of..." Erza faked a smile as Igneel strides to his daughter—giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"It's no problem, sir. I really needed to pay the bills anyway" She admitted.

This time, Igneel pats the babysitter on the back before making his way outside. "Well, I have to go now. I'll see you guys in a week" He glances at his daughter. "Also Wendy, stay out of trouble" While the girl responded with a soft groan.

When the father finally left, pulling out of the driveway, Erza closed the door and she stopped smiling. "What are you doing here?" Wendy asked in her venom-stained voice. It's starting.

"Obviously, I'm here to take care of you while your dad's away" She answered without any interest.

"Not that. Why are you _here_? I don't even need a babysitter, especially if it's you"

This is why the redhead had no problem with doing the laundry, washing the dishes, vacuuming the whole house. Everything except this. Dealing with a ten year old girl is not something she's good at, it's a blessing that her patience doesn't ran out that easily. It should be a skill for taking care of Wendy if she ever passes a resume at a company.

"Well guess what, I don't like you either. But since your dad is a very nice man, I couldn't reject his offer" Erza answered without faltering. Yep, this is definitely a skill.

"Whatever. Just don't come near me until dad gets back" Wendy walked away—into her room beside the kitchen.

"Not a problem" Erza muttered back before settling on the couch.

The babysitter doesn't even know why or how their hateful—er, dislike for each other started. She only knows that when Igneel hired her, Wendy bites back into everything she says and does. Erza actually tried being nice to her but the ten year old sees right under her facade even though she doesn't have any meticulous intentions. From then on, they lash out on each other like cats and dogs. It's a stressful work but it's still a way to earn some money, especially if Igneel is paying you twice the pay. At least that's what she keeps on telling herself right now.

So, without anything else to do, she called her special friend—a faint smile stretching upon her lips as she typed his number. Since when did she memorized his number anyway? Her phone rang a few times before she heard a deep hello, a chill going down her spine.

"Hey" She greeted back flirtatiously.

"Why'd you call?"

"Nothing. Just bored, I'm babysitting Wendy... You know, the little girl I'm talking about" She did told Jellal about Wendy. She practically nagged his ears off until it bled, it was just her frustration ascending into anger kind of moment when she walked out of Lucy's apartment and then called him for advice. But since Erza already took the job, the bluenette advised her to continue and not abandon her work both for her and her mother. She just realized that time how she needs him.

"Yeah well, I'm still working..."

She frowned, not knowing what else to do now. "Aw come on..." Erza could picture him copying her reaction. It's a thing that he always does or at least what he did when they met again in that bar. She honestly found it cute when he copied her reaction when she pouted.

"Do you want me to come over right after? The offer is not bad, it's actually a good one. She bit her lip while looking at Wendy's door. There are actually a numerous versions of how she could have said yes and she really wanted to but Igneel may not like the news of having a boy over in his own house.

"No, it's fine. I'm just... I have nothing else to do" Really, Erza did not tell him that there are actually a million things she could do in the house. It's just her first instinct to call him when she's too lazy to think.

"Yeah? I'm sorry, Erza but I have to go... The manager might take my phone" Erza now regrets half of what they talked about during her walk to the house is Wendy and their disheveled relationship. She didn't even had enough time to say good bye since the call ended. How is she going to work then? It's really her fault for not thinking about the entire offer, she can't bring Wendy to work. She can't leave her alone either. She needs to think of something soon.

* * *

Lucy enjoyed another two hours of her day off writing a story, she actually managed to cover three chapters in one go just because she was inspired. The blonde typed in her laptop nonstop, only breaking away to eat a leftover or to pee but nonetheless, her streak continued. She doesn't even know when she's publishing the book, it's supposed to be 45 chapters long and she's not halfway there. Even though writing is visually stimulating, she needs to stop any time soon and with that, she straightens up to stretch her sore muscles.

Her fingers were already tired, she can't take anymore typing even if she wanted to. The blonde was just distracting herself from a certain pinkette who managed to wedge himself in her day off. Natsu, that guy offered her a coffee treat—she doesn't even like coffee, not that she'd tell a complete stranger. She's just not fond of accepting offers easily. She's too reserved to be talking to someone online—heck, she doesn't even use her accounts that much. It was actually Erza's influence that caused her to make one, when she said she has been living under a rock—lecturing her about the lustrous wonders of the internet.

The blonde had already concluded that he's not a bad guy. She could tell from the way he's so open about his family. She saw pictures of him with his little sister and dad but unfortunately, not his mom. But she's not saying that he's not a kidnapper either even though it's so unlikely. That's just how her mind works.

She was about to reach out for her phone but someone started calling her and that someone is an unknown number, Lucy wondered if Natsu found out about her number, it's actually creepy if he did. It took her a while to reach the ringing phone which is only a few inches away from her, she may or may have not tried using the Spiderman trick because she's alone and no one could judge her. Erza couldn't judge her.

"Hello?"

" _Hi Lulu! It's me_!" The other line beamed.

And Lucy just had to confirm, again. "Sting?"

" _Yeah!_ "

"... How did you get my number?" She just need to ask. Thank goodness it wasn't Natsu, it would have been awkward.

Even though it's already awkward right now. " _I just thought that... You might have lost my number. That's all_ " And he didn't even answered her question.

"Okay... Um, so why did you call?" Lucy is not a smart and independent woman for something this obvious. This is probably a cheap move to get in her pants, either that or she's assuming things. If Sting thinks that he could get her just because he's handsome (obviously), rich (family business) and famous (handsome and rich), he's dead wrong. There were and probably some day, tons of guys who asked her out that fits the same description. She's not impressed, not one bit.

" _Well, you know that I just arrived here in Fiore last two weeks ago, right?_ "

In fact, she did. Sting was all over the news, welcoming him like some breakthrough actor. He was even in the news for one straight week, you couldn't unsee him. "Right" She mumbled.

" _Since I gave you my number, I was just hoping if you could give me a tour... It has been a while since I've been here_ "

Lucy also knows this. She should know this, it was the main reason why they broke up in the first place. After two years of him studying in Sabertooth, it was only a matter of time until his brother sent him to London. Rogue told her about it and she was determined to stay with him, trying out a long distance relationship. Unfortunately, like every other long distance relationships, it didn't work out. They broke up. The last thing she heard from him is that he's staying there for good.

"... Um, I don't know Sting" She's still doubtful. Not because she doesn't trust him but it's like a taboo going out with your ex, she just needs to clear some things up.

" _Aw come on, Lulu... It could be fun_ " He insisted. She remembered him using that tone whenever she disagrees at something, this is all too familiar to her.

"This is not a date, right?"

" _Not a date..._ "

"And there's no strings attached on this one?"

" _No strings attached_ "

"No walking up on my door step at night, no walking into the sunset like it's me and you against the world, no slurping smoothies on the same straw and no everything else?" She heard a pause, followed by an awkward cough.

" _I'm not sure if I could quote all that but there's none of those... Think about it as good old friends catching up_ " It would have been easy, thinking like that except they're not just two friends catching up with each other. Sting's her ex, that's it.

"Okay. Let's make a deal... I take you to a tour, I go home by myself at seven... Is that okay?" Lucy's just making sure, she doesn't want to do those stupid things.

" _Is this really necessary?_ "

"Sting, I'm your ex. It is necessary"

Another pause. " _... Fine, if that's what you want_ "

"Okay, then we're settled"

" _Indeed we are. I'll pick you up before lunch on Saturday_ " He enthusiastically remarked before ending the call. The blonde became anxious of this, a short while after, regretting whatever she agreed to.

Why did she do this?

* * *

Erza turns the knob of the oven as she sets up the table. It's already 7:30 PM, at least by now the demon child must be hungry. Unfortunately, Wendy has to taste her cooking, it's something that she's not good at, admittedly. But by the looks of it, she cooked a pretty decent broth. If this ever fails, they could always order some chinese takeout.

"Wendy! It's time to eat!" She called out across the table as she sets the plates above the mats. The redhead heard some slight shuffling before the ten year old emerged from her room, already dressed in her pajamas.

She sat down on one of the chairs, mumbling something about her homework. It'll be over soon, all Wendy needs to do now, is to eat and sleep and Erza's first day would be done. But the bluenette refuses to eat her dish for the day to officially end. She does have a viable reason, complaining about how weird it looked and smelled. As for the redhead, she was just being picky. She used a fairly good amount of knowledge to know what not to put, so there should be no problem.

"Just eat the damn food, we have nothing left here" Which Wendy responded with a few more complains before taking a spoonful. Erza in not a skilled cook but she knows how to taste food, this one in particular is pretty decent. So, it was nice to see Wendy shutting up and finally eating.

After a while of eating dinner and silent treatment, Erza cleans up everything while the girl sat on the couch with her iPad and a notebook sprawled on the coffee table. The redhead figured that she's probably doing homework, and shouldn't be bothered with.

It actually felt nice that they were going along through not talking to each other, it felt nice that she did a fine job at the dinner task even though Igneel is not here to pat her on the back. Now, it was back to thinking of a solid plan again. After washing the dishes, she sat on one of the love seats, thinking.

Like what she has been thinking. She can't bring Wendy to work, there are no kids allowed in the workplace. She can't leave Wendy all alone, it's a choice she has to make if she wants to be incinerated by a police chief dad or become a responsible babysitter. So, what she thinks she needs is someone to look after the bluenette while she's gone. It shouldn't be that hard. Erza needs someone responsible, someone who'll take the task at hand seriously. Someone who's kind, let's face it, the redhead is not good with kids. Lastly, she needs someone she can trust, she can't just hand the ten year old to a stranger. She needs someone like Lucy, the description reminds her of Lucy!

Erza made an inhuman sound, grinning from ear to ear as she thinks of the number of reasons why the blonde is perfect for the job. 1.) Lucy is responsible, she takes every task to heart. 2.) Her kindness is just above the roof, no one, not even Wendy could sass her. 3.) Trustworthy because she's her soul sister, duh. 4.) She likes kids, something that Erza doesn't understand. 5.) Her schedule fits her time out. Her work starts at four in the afternoon while Lucy's ends at three thirty. All she needs to do now is to ask her, beg for her if she must.

Her phone rang four times before Lucy picked up. " _Hello?_ "

"Thank god, Lucy! I need to ask you for a favor!" She just hopes that the blonde would agree, she's the only person fit for this anyway.

" _... What kind of favor?_ "

"This is nothing big, really. All you need to do is to babysit a kind, sweet—err, loving girl while I'm at work" Erza watched as Wendy's keen eyes drifted to her into a sharp glare.

" _Erza, I don't know..._ "

" _Please? This is only for the week..._ "

Lucy paused and it was nerve-racking, she's on edge right now. " _Do I get paid for this?_ "

"Yes, I'll give you a third of my pay. Her dad is paying me twice"

" _... You're doing this for your mom, right? It's fine, you don't have to pay me_ "

"So it's a yes?!"

" _Um yeah, sure..._ "

"OHMYGOD, Lucy! I LOVE YOU, I OWE YOU BIG TIME! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH OF A BLESSING YOU ARE! YOU'RE—"

"—Erza, stop yelling! I'm trying to do my homework!"

" _... That's some loving kid_ " Erza cringes. Yep, Lucy had heard but she can deal with Wendy. Unlike her, the blonde is patient when it comes to kids while her patience is just shaped upon her work ethics. She saw this once when they attended a kid's party out of sheer curiosity since Lucy had never attended one, it's really surprising and sad when you think about it.

"Yeah, well... She hates me" Wendy narrows her eyes at this but Erza doesn't seem to mind.

" _It's also a good thing that you called... I just want to ask you something_ "

"Ask away"

" _Is it a bad decision that I agreed to tour Sting around Fiore? Because he just asked me and I said yes_ " Erza's eyes popped out of its sockets, not literally though, that would have been gross. But she just couldn't contain her fangirling, she squealed through her phone for a few short seconds because the demon child kept on complaining.

"No, it's awesome! Why do you think it's a bad decision? It's fine, there's nothing wrong if Sting likes you"

" _Because he's my ex and Sting doesn't like me. That's not_ — _it can't possibly happen_ " Erza raised her brows in interest. She's not the kind of girl who believes in that bull and shit, they were a power couple back in college. Even though Sting went to a different university, they saw each other often and they were just so cute together. It's not like their reason isn't justified but it wouldn't hurt to give another try, especially now that he's back and he's already trying.

She rolled her eyes at this. "Lucy, trust me... He still likes you" So, that's how she wasted two and a half hours talking through the phone with her best friend. Yes, the talk about Sting is long and surprisingly, it went longer when they talked about Jellal. It's a series of _Jesus Christ, stop it! We're not a thing!_ to _Do you really think so?_ in a flash. When the redhead glanced at the wall clock it was way past Wendy's bed time.

So, Erza hurriedly ended the call. Wendy was too busy to be bothered, she's so focused into finishing her homework. It would hurt to try right now.

Here goes. "Wendy... You should probably go to sleep. It's already way past 9:30"

The bluenette glanced at her for interrupting. "I still have a lot of things to do, thanks to you"

"What the hell did I do?"

"If it weren't for your loud mouth, I would have been sleeping by now. But thanks to you, I have to stay up all night to finish this" This shuts Erza up. It is her fault but that doesn't mean she'll stop obeying her dad's rules. Igneel's instructions were pretty specific, Wendy should go to sleep before 9:30 because sleeping late can raise diabetes risk, especially how Wendy's sugar level is difficult to maintain.

"Wendy, you can finish your homework tomorrow. You need to sleep" She tried to remain as calm as possible, trying her best to stop her eyes from twitching.

"NO! If I want to do my homework, I can! And I will! So stop bothering with me!" Wendy yelled before taking her notebook with her and running right across the edge of the dining area.

"Come back here, you little brat! Your dad said you should sleep! Stop being so stubborn!" She ran after her as they circled around the table, yelling back and forth. The demon child is really fast much to her liking, and she's not really much of a runner like Lucy. She's more of a boxer (though she can't punch Wendy), she'll end up killing herself through Igneel.

* * *

Okay, Natsu had a theory. It's a pretty unlikely theory but it's still something. He walked up into a bar, something where his taste fits. Loud music, girls grinding on each other and most of all alcohol. It's the best setting to get a girl's number, so that's what he did to prove some points. 1.) He can still call any girl's number. 2.) No, he doesn't want to see Lucy. 3.) No, he's not thinking about her, he should just stop.

A couple of drinks later, he got three numbers that he could call willingly at any time. It shouldn't be that hard though, he should just save their numbers and list them with misspelled names just like the rest of the girls in his contacts. But guess what, he couldn't. He doesn't know why but he willingly throws their teared off papers and just walked away like nothing happened. The worse part is that he doesn't regret any of it.

So, this is why he came up with a theory that Lucy Heartfilia fucked with his mind. She probably did something to him while they met during that pool game, there must have been chemicals on the stick she handed him because he can't seem to do the things he was willed to do ever since he met her. It's highly unlikely because the stick is owned by the bar and there's no such chemicals that risk that kind of behavior. Plus, he's also drunk. It's a good thing that he's finally home.

"—YOU GET BACK HERE YOU SPOILED LITTLE-"

"NO!" Then some glass breaking was heard in his house. It's also Wendy's voice. His drunken state was suddenly replaced by pure adrenaline as he hurriedly throws the door open.

"Wendy!" Natsu watched as Wendy along with an unfamiliar redhead stopped running, both of them on the opposite ends of the island counter. He strides to his sister, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders as he eyed the other girl.

"Who are you?"

"I should be asking you that. I'm her babysitter, Erza" The redhead sharply remarked. Natsu didn't realized that his little sister has a babysitter and is not probably a fun one to begin with, he admits that she looks scary. He should probably ask his dad if she's a legit babysitter. It's a little surprising that Wendy needs a babysitter because he's not home that very often, even though she's young and she can cook better than him. It's not like she couldn't take care of herself.

"Well, I'm her brother"

Erza's eyes widened in surprise. "You have a brother?!"

"Obviously" Wendy retorted back.

"What's with all the yelling? And I heard something breaking"

Both females eyed each other, Natsu felt like they were communicating mentally of who should tell who and what happened. But in the end, the babysitter had to take the responsibility.

"Wendy here is being unreasonable. She refuses to go to sleep and it's already way past her bed time" Natsu sighed heavily at this, he doesn't know why his little sister is stubborn when it comes to sleep. This always happens, he's a little worried that it might affect her health again.

He stooped on his knees to level her as he placed both his hands on her tiny shoulders. "Wendy, you can't continue doing this. Please, just go to sleep... Dad is worried. I'm worried" She looks at her brother in the eye on the last statement.

"You're worried about me?"

"Of course. You're my sister and I care about you... Please, just go to sleep" Slowly, she smiles and him, wrapping her arms around his neck before rushing into her room—the whole glass-breaking forgotten.

When he turned around to face his little sister's babysitter, she was already staring at him, her sharp eyes narrowing.

"You look familiar" She said.

* * *

 **Hello! So... I created a tumblr acc :) I think my username is** ultrawhitesolitude **,** **it was originally just whitesolitude but the suggestion box made me laugh, it suggested that and I said, why not? Soo yeah... Username is that xD Also! Feel free to teach me how to tumblr because I'm a noob and I just created the acc without prior knowledge of what to do since I didn't browse it that much lol**

 **And follow me or I follow you. Just tell me your username, ok? :) We'll be tumblr buddies xD**

 **Also, for the lemon part. Since it is completely rated and critiqued by different people, I'm going to separate the lemon(s) into a one shot since some of you are not comfortable if I ever put it here xD. So... yeah. If you wanna check some action, it's a separate content :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

 **fangirlsweg** Yep, it is creepy, it's supposed to be that way dun wurry and I didn't find your review any bad, I take the critics to heart and I learn from it. So thank you :)

 **EchizenRyoma** really? I've always thought that Lucy could be amazing as a pool expert when I first finished the anime haha

 **fanman963** i did! are you proud of me? :D and I will totally add you since I don't have friends w/ tumblr *cries* still not touching tumblr that much cuz' i don't know what to do and it might bite me back if I don't know it long enough. And I will make lemons but it'll be separated from the story since some people may not be comfortable reading them here :)

 **starfiresusan18** i wonder too ;)

 **FairtyTailF.T** thank you *puts on sunglasses* i should probably stop singing about that song about wishing to be like the cool kids then xD

 **WHOEVER KNOWS THAT SONG IS MY INSTANT BEST FRIEND** lol idk man

 **Pari forever ft** ok, i was about to thank you. ok ok i should probably stop-thank you so much for doing this, really! PLEASEOHGOD I HATE ME, stop it me! but seriously, the chapters would be awesomecular, if that's a word ;) stay tune

 **MissCelestialSpirit** it's fine! I'm all about jokes, my friend! lay it down :D

 **FairyTailF.T** *doubles sunglasses*

 **Again, my tumblr:** .com (you can teach me how tumblr works if you're willing, I have 0% knowledge so far)

Also, I will do some tumblring once I get back from school, maybe tomorrow. it would be nice to know your username and things you want to tell me about the site :) thanks!

 **You can follow me and I'll follow you. Just tell me your username ;)**

 **byee**


	5. Chapter 5

Pool Action

As much as Lucy wants to collapse in her bed after working her ass off for 10 hours straight, she couldn't. Agreeing to babysit a kid seemed appealing at first when she still had the energy but right now, when her shoulders felt saggy and her head hung low, it was impossible to feel good about all this. But there's no point of turning back, now that she's right outside the door.

"Is this the right place?" The blonde glanced at the teared off paper once again where her best friend indicated the address. And it looked like this was it. So, mustering a bit more energy, she rings the doorbell.

It only took twice for the white wooden door to be thrown open like it was about break, revealing a corporate attired redhead who looked so eager to leave the place.

"Lucy! You're finally here! Thanks for coming but I'm already late. So, I'm gonna have to talk to you later!" Her best friend said in a rush while struggling with her heels, Lucy had no time to bid farewell back, so she just accepted the little kiss on the cheek which is very normal for two straight, independent girls. Don't judge them.

The new babysitter wasted no time to enter the house, she marveled of how simple yet elegant the house looked. Of course, the house looks better than her apartment unit, even with Erza's combined. She peeled her black heels off, placing the feet killer on the rack just beside the coat hanger. When she swiftly turned around, a long-haired girl stood in front of her.

"Holy cheeseballs!" Lucy jumped back a little. Instinctively, she placed a hand on top of her racing heart.

"You scared me"

Wendy on the other hand, did not realize that such angelic persona existed. Compared to the first time she saw Erza, who was just filled with suppressed demonic horns and tails—the blonde goddess who basically has a ray of sacred light, surprised her otherwise, she could actually hear the transcendental choir playing in the background.

"Excuse me but who are you?" The ten year old should be cautious towards strangers but something tells her that the adult is not a buttstabber waiting for an opportunity to seize an attack. That ray of light (probably just the kid's wild imagination) from before is already enough to convince her that she's an angel here on earth.

"I'm Lucy, Erza's friend. She told me that I'll be taking care of you while she's working" She extends her hand, a gesture that she's used into doing, especially during meetings—it was too late for her to retract her hand into a high five instead.

The bluenette's small hand met her own as she shook it firmly. "My name is Wendy" The kid smiled cheekily and it took Lucy by surprise. Erza had just told her that Wendy doesn't smile for shit but here she is, proving the redhead wrong. The blonde always thought that her best friend was exaggerating when she asked her about Wendy the other day through the phone.

"Can I call you Lu-chan?" Lucy cannot help but question Erza's judgement. Is she babysitting the wrong kid or is her friend just not accurate about describing a kid's personality? Most likely, it could be the second one. The redhead told her that Wendy addresses her through her first name, firmly. Quoted "without any respect".

"Of course" The blonde looked around some more as she stepped into the living room. Well, just like in her apartment, the kitchen isn't much separated to the dining area but it's wider. You could at least fit a mattress in between the space.

"You have a nice house" She genuinely remarked as she rooted herself beside the television.

"Thanks"

Since there is nothing much to do and her job is to take care of Wendy, in other words, to keep her company, she clasps her hands together. "So Wendy, what do you wanna do?" Lucy watches as the bluenette places a thumb across her chin, thinking. This time, she concluded that Erza is wrong, terribly wrong. Her best friend even addressed this cute girl as the demon child but what's devilish about cutely thinking of what to do?

"I know! Lu-chan, do you know how to cook?" A smirk so subtle tainted her lips. Well, Lucy's not bragging but back in college, she used to cook legit, delicious meals along with Erza who only knows how to microwave instant noodles.

But she kept it short and brief, she nodded her head.

"Can you teach me how to cook spicy noodles for my brother? He has been asleep for a while now and I think he'll be hungry when he wakes up" It's something that Wendy still doesn't know how to cook the noodles, no matter how much she tried. Her brother had to go somewhere to buy a bowl of the said dish just so he could eat his favorite.

Lucy couldn't say no to Wendy. She just looked so cute with her hands clasped together and her wide eyes filled with wonder and interest. The blonde nods her head as she rolled her sleeves up to her elbows, tying her hair into a messy bun.

"Wait, you have a brother?" Now that she thinks of it, the redhead never mentioned anything about the kid's brother except about "how she saw him from somewhere". She guessed that he's no older than Wendy, he's probably twelve years old or something.

"Yes! He's sleeping right now" The ten year old pulled her index finger over to her lips like she's shushing the adult, she craned her neck towards the door on her right. "I think we better keep quiet" She whispered.

Lucy slightly giggled at how careful she looked when the ten year old tiptoed to the kitchen. The babysitter followed a short while after—wrapping a tiny, pink apron around her waist. Then, Wendy took another apron from the counter cabinet that's a little similar to hers, this time in orange. As they cooked, most of the time the blonde instructed while she listened . The bluenette greatly approved of the equally distributed tasks, though the blonde did the more laborious work like slicing and boiling while she marinated and mixed some ingredients. It wasn't long until they were just going to heat the dish, this bought them some time to talk about each other.

"So it's just you and your brother here?"

"No, sometimes dad is here. He works as a policeman, so he's always busy" The babysitter sense the sadness in her eyes and the tone of her voice, it's only a matter of a good second until she realized that she could see herself through Wendy. It's difficult to grasp the concept of independence at such a young age but that's what she felt during her childhood and teen years. Her dad was always too busy to even attend her graduation and recognition days. The sole purpose of doing excellence in school is not because of wanting to have a perfect future, she just wanted to make her old man proud.

Before things go downhill from there, she changed the subject. "What about your brother?"

Almost instantly, Wendy perked up—her brown eyes bubbling with joy and her smile stretching for a mile. "He's always not around since he has an apartment but when he is, he always looks out for me, especially whenever I'm sick. I even faked a fever so that he'd take care of me" Wendy admitted with a nervous smile and Lucy could just admire the cute girl for being open about her sibling but she admired her brother more for having this special relationship with his sister (hold up, this isn't a euphemism. Stop it!) She secretly wondered what it would feel like to have a sibling.

Okay, Lucy might be wrong. Her brother is probably older than twelve since he could rent an apartment. No twelve year old can rent an apartment or maybe there is, she just doesn't know that secret system. "Wait, how old is your brother?"

"I think he's twenty four?" Wendy answered, slightly unsure.

Well, that seems about right. That secret system is a hoax, no such thing exists.

"I just want to repay him" The kid added. She raised a brow at this, considering how great her brother would be. Whoever it is, whatever the bluenette described him to be—it must be all true.

"I'm sure your brother's great. I'm excited to meet him" It would honestly be nice to meet who Wendy adores, for someone who's always alone, he always finds time to spend time with his sister. No matter how simple it sounded, it's really amazing for Lucy. This is just something that her father couldn't do something about, she just wants to ask. How does he do it?

"He is. I'm sure he's excited to meet you too"

It's a perfect timing that the dish is ready to be served. "I think it's time to wake him up... It's done"

Wendy's beautiful eyes turned brighter as she picked up her pace to go to her brother's room, located beside a closed room. She continued knocking while Lucy served the hot dish.

* * *

Natsu was enjoying his sleep because there's a certain part of his dream involving a gorgeous busty blonde, leather and himself specifically in a grand bedroom. But that came to a halt when something banging interrupted his dreamland—no, it's not them either. It's more like in contact with wood rather than creaking bed noises.

He groaned in disapproval and as he opened one tired eye, he found himself in his own room, clad in sweatpants and nothing more. He just wants to go back to sleep and continue where _they_ left off but the banging didn't seize and it looked like it came from his door. So, with an annoyed sigh, he throws the door open—Wendy stood in front of him, wearing her tiny apron which could only mean one thing.

Food.

"Natsu-nee, it's time to eat" His little sister excitedly exclaimed, his sexual fantasy long ago forgotten. He stoops to her level, reading the dark letters imprinted on her apron. _Kiss the Cook_ , so he did. Lightly kissing Wendy on the forehead before ruffling her dark, long hair.

"Alright, I'll forgive you just this once since you cooked for me" He grinned when his sister started pulling him by the arm.

"Not only that but Lu-chan helped me" Before Natsu could ask who Lu-chan is, probably an old lady who was a retired chef, he glances towards the kitchen and found his answer, in front of them stood Lucy Heartfilia. Not an old lady. She was just as surprised as he is, holding a wooden spoon in one hand and a bowl in the other. The pinkette couldn't help but stare at her apron, something similar to his little sister's, it says _Kiss the Cook_. Those three words has never been so tempting to do until now. He noticed how she wrapped the ribbon behind her back, a little to tightly, similar to the feeling in his pants. She has the only right to wear that apron, preferably with nothing underneath. More importantly, luck must have punched him square in the jaw. There were probably a million to one chances to get a beautiful goddess to cook for you, especially if it's Lucy.

"YOU" They both said at the same time, exclaiming in the same matter, they were mirroring each other's actions in Wendy's point of view.

Until Lucy's phone erupted into a series of clinking noises, she answers it exactly after the first ring. "Yeah, no shit" She said to whoever is on the other line without breaking eye contact.

"You know each other?" The kid asked when she realized that they were already familiar with each other.

They were too busy having a staring competition to answer Wendy's question, it could have been longer, probably until Erza or Igneel came back but the blonde breaks the contact away with a slight shake of her head, she started acting so differently, so conscious. Natsu watched as the gorgeous blonde knocks over every side of her body towards the counter, it was slightly amusing to watch her mumble a series of curses, flustered. He deeply chuckled when he caught her eyes as she passes by him to get to the table.

* * *

Lucy was just transferring the hot dish into a bowl when she first heard Wendy, calling out her brother's name. _Natsu_. If she remembers correctly, that name is also the name of her challenger slash stalker. She froze, that could be a coincidence because there could be more Natsu(s) in Fiore than she could count with her fingers, at least there should be more than one.

"...-Alright, I'll forgive you just this once since you cooked for me" She tensed once again when Wendy's brother spoke. The voice sounded exactly the same, she read his voice during the pool game. But that could also be a coincidence, some people actually sound pretty similar.

"Not only that but Lu-chan helped me" It's Wendy and then some shuffling. Holy crapola! Holy crapola! Holy crapola! Forget the "coincidences", there is no way that it's not _him_. All it takes for her right now, is to turn around and confirm. And it was overly dramatic because the moment she turned around, it was also the moment their eyes clashed.

Natsu Dragneel stood a few feet away from her, wearing some black sweatpants that hung so dangerously low against his hips, his disheveled, salmon hair just became more prominent to the whole image. Of course, Lucy can't avoid sneaking a quick peek towards his hot body, she's only human. She mentally adored his arms, trailing down towards his chest especially down his abdomen. She abruptly stops there.

When she realizes that she's mentally thinking about how good those muscles would feel like, she shakes her head.

"YOU" They both said at the same time. Because that's what you say, according to movies, when you meet someone you already met.

Her phone started ringing, what a perfect timing. When she answered the call without looking at the screen, Erza's voice rushed into her ears.

" _Lucy, hey! I remember now! Wendy's brother is that guy from the bar!_ " She blames Erza for this. Her best friend was just nagging to her the other day about how familiar Wendy's brother looked. But guess what, the redhead is a few moments too late, now that Natsu is standing right in front of her.

"Yeah, no shit" Lucy could hear her friend saying something back but she ended the call right there when Wendy asked if they knew each other. They were too engulfed to answer her question that it took them longer than usual to break the trance. She was just all over the place after that, nervously tugging at her pencil skirt lower, tucking strands of her golden hair behind her ear and just clearing her throat with each passing second. The counter felt like it was stabbing her in all her sides when she rounded to place the hot bowl of the dish to the table which meant that she had to pass by Natsu and it's not helping that she could feel his onyx eyes.

Slightly bubbling with rage, she heard him laughing at her, she glared at him before settling his stupid dish on the table. Lucy seriously wondered if people have wrong judgement all the time. First, Erza's wrong about the so called demon child, then there's the angel who adores her stupid brother too much. Lucy wanted to ponder more at the idea but when she accidentally, surely it was an accident—when she accidentally glanced at his crotch. There's something wrong with it and she is not a mature woman to not understand that distracting bulge. The blonde wasn't going to voice it out loud, she has some decency left to tolerate this.

But then his little sister wondered the same thing.

"Natsu-nee, what's wrong with your pants?" The innocent kid pointed directly right at his crotch and Lucy couldn't help but stifle her giggles. When he looked down, his wrinkled pants along from his perspective made the blood in his face boil.

"It's the morning, okay?" He stretched his arms out in an exaggerated exclamation before walking away, embarrassed.

Wendy, just as confused by her brother's sudden outburst stood by her babysitter, wondering why Lu-chan is trying her best not to laugh.

* * *

Natsu shuts the door of his bathroom. He could name a lot of things that are messing with his brain, most of them were just too good and too bad to be true. First, Lucy Heartfilia is in his house and she just cooked him a meal. Second, he swore with every fiber of his being, the gorgeous blonde checked him out. Third, what Wendy's babysitter witnessed may or may not be morning wood, it could probably be from his dream. It's easier to admit that it's the first one.

He splashed some cold water across his face, that mischievous grin staring back at him through the mirror. How long was he making that face?

Whatever, with one last breathe of air, he exits the room and sits back towards the dining area. Lucy's back turned against him as she washes a few plates. From a rather embarrassing situation to an awkward one in seconds, even Wendy is not saying anything—she was silently eating her fair share of noodles across the table.

"Wendy, where's Erza?" Natsu started as he eats his dish. It's only a matter of time that he'd look for the scary redhead, she was there when he ate breakfast, that demon basically barged in his room and punched him straight from the guts to wake up, following a logic that violence is always the answer. Not that he cared, of course, he preferred the one washing the dishes right now.

"Working... I don't know" Wendy shrugged her shoulders. Seriously, for the past six months, Erza has been her official babysitter and the bluenette doesn't even know the redhead's whereabouts. Natsu pondered if he should ask Igneel about the number of babysitters his little sister have, their dad is probably not aware of Lucy.

"How many babysitters do you have anyway?"

"Just one. Lu-chan's here while Erza's away" Wendy happily munched.

* * *

Lucy figured that it's probably smart to stay quiet for the rest of the day until Erza comes back, the Dragneels were busy talking about themselves anyway, there's no harm done when they talked about Erza. Well, not until the innocent Wendy started embarrassing the babysitter, not her intention but it happens.

This is how it started. She couldn't help that she could hear them talking, they were just eating from behind her anyway. Lucy learned that Wendy is doing great with school, maintaining her position as the class' top notcher. Then, even if she doesn't want to, the blonde learned that Natsu had just finished a scale model for another skyscraper, he said it'll be built in five years prior.

"This is so good" He happily munched, Lucy could hear him gargling. It's disgusting.

"I'm glad you liked it. Lu-chan taught me how to cook this. So, you don't have to leave if you want some spicy noodles" His sibling remarked.

"Is that so? Well, this is my new favorite now" She doesn't really know if he's doing it on purpose but the tone of his voice told her otherwise.

"Yeah! We worked hard to cook this, especially Lu-chan! She wanted to meet you because I was telling her about-" Okay, so staying quiet and not watching their conversation is a mistake. She actually heard him make an interested sound, that's how she knows that it'll turn into an embarrassing situation.

"-Alright Wendy, I think it's time for you to do your homework" Lucy cuts in, just when the topic was getting interesting for Natsu. She summons a gorgeous smile that easily convinced the kid (The blonde honestly doesn't know why and how). But she hoped off from her seat, skipping towards her room to start with her science and music.

"You wanted to meet me? I thought stranger danger and all that?" He quoted with his fingers, a playful smirk forming.

She gathers Wendy's finished bowl, cocking a brow back at him. "First of all, I didn't know it was you... So" She was basically telling him to hold the fuck up and stop getting ahead of himself.

"That's harsh, Luce" He pouts and she will never admit in a million years that she found it adorably cute.

"But I'm glad you cooked this for me. Thanks for the meal" Natsu beamed which begs her to question what's wrong with the guy? Yes, even if she denies the universal fact that the pinkette could be a thousand degrees hot, he is, whether she likes it or not. But also, he can shift from the hottest guy alive that he could burn right into the earth's crust to the cute, adorable thing that you could hang from the windshield. It's heart-stopping.

Lucy hopes that time would just move faster.

* * *

 **Hello guys! So like what I said in "Between Two Neighbors", I'm gonna start updating late due to school. It's my senior year and I wanted to make the best out of it by running for the Top Ten, I hope you understand :) Also, holy hell for the number of follows and favs and reviews! 50+ follows in just 4 chapter, I honestly couldn't thank you enough for the support :) But thank you very much**

 **Yes, I created a tumblr:** ultrawhitesolitude **And I'm still learning on how to use it :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

 **fangirlsweg** lol ikr? I made Wendy OOC just cause... err, reasons. And I understand :) I just figured that it would be smart to separate the explicit content of the story since some people may not like it :)

 **waterfight** yes thank you! The next chapter would be longer :D

 **Pari forever ft** YES, OMF! I'm actually surprised that four chapters in and that happened! I'm so so so thankful XD

 **fanman963** well, it's doing... not awesome since I'm still learning, though it should be simple my stupid brain can't handle the complex ways of tumblr xD and, I could only browse it every time I have good internet reception (country sucks for having low budget reception, not just my house but the whole fucking country!) anyways, thanks for the support xD

 **Prankstaaaaar** to be completely honest, i don't really know myself xD. sometimes, I just wake up in the middle of the night, thinking of an awesome plot/chapter or whatever that I had to note it in my phone... so yeah... My brain works while everyone's asleep hihi

 **p3pp3rmintt** boom! here you go! :))

 **HoO** **isawesome** we must be best friends, omf! though, IRL I'M PROBABLY THE LEAST FUNNY PERSON ON EARTH :(( my puns are not really appreciated, real life is a cruel place :( where are all those internet friends that could appreciate my jokes and puns? :(( thank you for reading though! :D

 **ALSO, BTW! By any chance, is there someone that can draw or edit for a cover photo for this story? I know it is a very high request but if there is someone that can draw or edit a cover photo, that would be awesome :) I would surely put all the credits to you and I'd post it on my tumblr, just so people can see :)**

 **Again, I might start updating late. I'm so sorry :( but don't worry, if you see me on tumblr at least you know that I'm not dead xD. hehehehe**

 **byee**


	6. Chapter 6

Pool Action

Natsu couldn't sleep that day and he couldn't wipe the goofy grin off his face either. The mere thought of only his bedroom door separating him from Lucy makes the dire need to go outside more appealing. Although when he _did_ took a short peek, the blonde babysitter is no longer in the Dragneel residence. So, she gets off by one in the morning—replaced by the redhead passed out on the couch, and deep down when he thinks about it a second longer, no girl should be outside by midnight. Nonetheless, he just gotta tell this newfound information to someone. He takes his phone from his nightstand and draws an immature message like it was composed by a hormonal teenager who just learned how to use snapchat. He spams two emojis, the one pointing its index finger to the right and the fancy _ah-okay!_ sign,also known as the illuminati symbol. Of course, to mildly annoy one particular blunette, he sends four hundred copies of the gesture.

Knowing the ice freak, he's awake until 4:00 AM since he's working on a concept for a power source of a big corporation. So, he's basically burning his brain off until he decides to give up and try again the next day. But thirty minutes turned to an hour, to two hours, three and the pinkette knew that something was up with the asshole. There's only one reason that keeps Gray away from his phone. He's probably getting laid.

It was already 4:37 AM when the blunette responded to him. He jolted awake from his sprawled position when three annoying bell-like sounds chimed from his nightstand.

 **From: Emo Stripper**

 _Did you just send me four hundred penetration texts?!_

The second message,

 _This better be important! If this is some bullshit for nothing I'm gonna kick your ass!_

The last one,

 _Also guess what happened_ with three smirking emojis

Natsu groaned through his pillow, even though it's tempting to call this bullshit, he couldn't. For the sake of his progress, he's going to tell his first day with the beautiful Heartfilia. But before that, he's going to send a quick reply for the last message.

 **To: Emo Stripper**

 _It's that blue-haired chic you met with is that it?_

It didn't take long for the ice freak to reply back either.

 **From: Emo Stripper**

 _Yeah, she's amazing..so where you're getting at should be important or else..._

He rolls his eyes, as if the blunette could beat him.

 **To: Emo Stripper**

 _You bastard! knew you were getting laid..but dude more importantly, my sister's alternative babysitter is Lucy Heartfilia!_

 **From: Emo Stripper**

 _Alternative? you bullshitting with me? that's not true, stop lying!i'm just gonna pommel your ass you asshole!_

Of course, how typical of Gray to not believe his honest remarks.

 **To: Emo Stripper**

 _I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY! WILL SEND YOU PROOF SOON PREPARE TO EAT YOUR WORDS_

That's Natsu's early Monday morning, as much as he wants to go back to sleep, he needs to visit a construction site of his very design right now, it will probably take long hours of planning and everything—so he hurriedly drags his ass to his bathroom, he needs to do everything quick.

Just so he doesn't miss Lucy's babysitting hours.

* * *

Lucy was tired like every other work day, she just wants the solitude of her apartment with a romantic novel in hand, an ice cold drink on the table but she strides into Dragneel's residence with no effort. She doesn't have much of a choice anyway, also it's really amusing to tell Erza how Wendy is such an angel. The redhead couldn't possibly believe every single word, she said she's a straight out liar. Other than that, Erza was rather excited for the day, she couldn't think of a reason why her best friend is acting any different. There's nothing really good about this day.

When she walks inside, slipping her heels off, Wendy rushed to her side—a bright smile on her face. "Good afternoon, Lu-chan!"

Instantly, Lucy's mood lightened up. Nope, she's not hell-tired anymore, she's kind of in purgatory now. "Good afternoon to you too, Wendy"

Wendy was wearing a tangerine Sunday dress, her long hair knotted into a bun with a giant fan in hand. It was probably twice as large as her head. The babysitter in the other hand, was still peeling her heels off.

"Lu-chan, it's soooo hot" She complained while fanning herself.

And the blonde kind of noticed that a long time ago while at work. It's actually peculiar to experience this level of hotness, she was irritable during the long hours of listening to a board discussion in a bored manner, even with air conditioner on. Plus, wearing an Oxford jacket underneath a white blouse and bandage skirt is really stupid and a shit idea because it was sweat inducing. Lucy felt gross when she felt sweat trickling down the back of her neck. But right now, the Dragneels residence is like a huge sauna room. She appreciates her mildly hot office right now. She could already feel herself melting away from her own skin.

Instead of complaining like what she did half of the time in her office, Lucy peeled her jacket off along with the three buttons of her blouse, revealing a peek of her purple lacy bra underneath. But there's nothing wrong there anyway, there's no one here except for Wendy. Specifically, there's no pinkette with inhumanely large sex appeal walking around the house to see her like this.

"Come on, I'll make us something to drink" She took Wendy's hand as they proceed for the kitchen.

When Lucy glanced at the air conditioner hanging over the television, she realized that it was turned off. Hence, the giant big oven. She could literally see red radiating from the wooden floor. "Say Wendy, why is the air conditioner off?"

"Oh, it's not off, it's broken... Natsu-nee told me that he'll fix it when he comes back from work" Slightly appalled by the mention of his name, she raised a brow at herself. Seriously, the guy didn't do anything wrong to her. It was just slightly questionable and weird to meet her challenger, stalker and now Wendy's big brother.

"Why not hire someone to fix it?" Lucy opened the fridge and instinctively, she closed her eyes in relief when the cold air wafted on her skin. If this is what the state of nirvana feels like, she might as well stuff herself inside the fridge.

"Natsu-nee said that it'll cost a lot" Well, it is true. There is a little side story of a personal experience. The blonde is not a superhuman who can do anything. That in particular is to repair anything. And when she hired the said technician, she had to delay a month to pay for her rent.

As Lucy pours ice cold water into two glasses, turning the transparent liquid into yellow, Wendy tells her about her day. The kid went to school like every other day except for the hot scorching sun making all their teachers grumpy. There's even her classmate, namely Romeo who got sent by the Principal's office by just asking a question. It's not even offensive nor stupid. He just seriously had to pee. Then, the kid goes off and mentions her brother once again. Apparently, Natsu likes the weather. He said today is a perfect day and Lucy just wants to barge in his office or whatever and slap his mouth for saying such things, it's a damn curse. It feels like the apocalypse but instead of zombies and tectonic plates clashing with each other rapidly, it was their own star fucking with them.

"Here you go" The babysitter created some pineapple juice and hopefully, it would quench their thirst until Wendy's brother returns. Lucy had never been desperate in any sort of situation but when you're experiencing global warming like this, she can't wait for Natsu to return. He'll be her savior if he ever fixes the thing. Heck with it, forget her discomfort of meeting the guy.

She. Needs. Him.

Now.

* * *

Natsu was beyond clueless. Everyone's knickers were all in a twist and he couldn't fathom why. During some time, he questioned if being a grumpy hag is a trend. Even his co-workers were angrily trying to process his blueprint. He was innocent, he clearly did nothing wrong but one of them insulted his bad handwriting which he took lightly, of course. He admits that it's really bad anyway. It was all so exhausting.

Driving back to the house is a miracle as he pulled through the driveway, his little sister was suddenly on his side of the car door. "Jesus Christ, don't jump on me like that!" He placed a hand over his throbbing heart before peeling himself off, along with some paperwork and blueprint.

"I'm sorry but you have to fix the air conditioner! Lu-chan couldn't take the heat anymore!" How Wendy sounded like is just like how a normal person sounded like when the air conditioner is broken but Natsu read it as "You have to fix the air conditioner! Lucy is dying from the heat!"

The pinkette hurriedly throws the door open, marching over to the living room only to prove himself wrong. Nope, Lucy is not dying. She's actually standing with a fan in hand, clad in a sexy purple bra and a tight skirt. Both of them froze. Natsu's a guy, give him a break, of course he trails his onyx eyes to the goddess' soft chocolate eyes, down to her ample chest and over the curves in the right places. He _appreciated_ the view for a few seconds longer when he realized that maybe, just maybe, this is all too good to be true to be any sort of reality.

He pinched himself until the small portion of his arm gradually turned red just like her face. Natsu watched as Lucy screamed in terror before hurriedly getting her blouse into an attempt of buttoning them back. He confirmed three out of four things from this whole situation. Number one, Lucy Heartfilia is beastly sexy underneath all those corporate clothing. Number two, purple is his new favorite color. Number three, heat and Lucy is a good combination.

"S-S-Stop looking, you-you pervert!" Before he could even comprehend her words, something collided with his face. That something is hard and metal, a frying pan. When Lucy thought about how she needed Natsu, she didn't mean it in a way to reveal half of her dignity towards the guy. She expected a normal meeting without the lacy bra—no, not that. Without him seeing her skin from the neck down, she mentally noted to herself to wear a turtleneck next time.

"Oww..." He rubbed the sore spot on his cheek as he places his equipment on top of the couch.

"Why are you even here?" She crossed her arms with slight anger but the red tinge of red on her cheeks told him otherwise.

"Well, Wendy told me you were dying from the heat... So, I'm here to save you" With his canines showing, he immediately unbuttons his sleeves off.

"H-hey! Why a-are you taking your shirt off?! Put -i-it back on!" The goddess' face turned bloody red as she stammered and Natsu wondered what she would look like if he took his pants off. Right now.

But as much as how appealing that sounds, he keeps his words simple. "You've seen me without a shirt on. What's so different now?" With a wink.

Well, to be clear he doesn't need to pull his pants off to see how red her face could get. Lucy was redder by now, she practically hit him on the arm with a heavy hand. Also, what they didn't know is that Wendy is watching them from five feet away, she never knew that she could like her temporary babysitter more. Just because she thought that Lucy is bound and made for her brother. But then again, maybe her ten year old brain is just affected by reading fan fictions.

"I'm just kidding... I just don't want to ruin my shirt, hang on. I'll get the tools from the basement" He couldn't admit it out loud but his white button down is the only thing he has to work with right now.

Natsu focused on one thought. If this is what he gets for not fixing the air conditioner, he'd break the thing in a heartbeat.

* * *

The color in Lucy's cheeks didn't descend, instead it remained there for the whole time of Natsu trying to fix the air conditioner. There are actually a lot of factors why. It must be the heat. That's what she keeps on telling herself. Then again, it must be the guy. Honestly, she doesn't even know if he's doing it on purpose, being hotter than the oven they're in, she means. The blonde was busily rummaging around the kitchen while the pinkette was stepping over a stool with a screwdriver in hand. Of course, he's half naked while his little sister helped him reach some tools.

"Wendy, can you get me some water?"

"Even better, Lu-chan prepared some pineapple juice!" Why does Wendy have to be such a wrinkle of things? It was going great. Her subtle glances towards the guy didn't hurt anybody. She slightly jumped at his soft chuckle, then the look she received from him not so long ago flashed in her mind again. Yes, Natsu was stunned to see her half naked in front of him. And in many shades, it was embarrassing.

With a pitcher of the yellow juice in one hand and a glass filled with ice on the other, she inhaled sharply before going over to their direction. When she handed him the drink, he smiled at her cheekily.

"Aren't you bothered by the heat?" She just needs to ask him how and why, being roasted alive is something you shouldn't be happy about and yet, this hot weirdo right here is beaming like an idiot.

"I really don't know" And he seemed sincere by his answer. So, he wasn't playing when he said that he liked the weather. It's like putting ketchup in ice cream but you seem to enjoy it, that's Natsu. The three of them became silent after that with Lucy still standing there, reasoning that she's waiting for him to finish the glass.

* * *

Natsu knew that his sister did him a favor and he mentally noted to give her ice cream when all of this is finished. He tried his best to keep their conversation alive and his life line is the half empty glass of pineapple juice in his hand. He figured this out when her eyes constantly shifts towards the glass from time to time and he decides to drink it as slow as he could with the office girl knowing. He needs to think fast without resulting into directly asking Lucy out because he swears—dear god, he swears that she wouldn't go out with him just when he saw her half naked. But the pinkette is not complaining though, only an insane man would deny her.

Hence, the only bright idea he could think of which involved what he's doing right now, a reward and a pool stick is ready to take place.

Here goes.

"I should get a reward for fixing this" He countered, his plan the only thing occupying his mind right now.

Of course, Lucy will not agree during the first try. She's not that girl from Starbucks and he already forgot her name. Was it Trina? Twix? Tin? But more importantly, his pineapple juice is almost empty.

"Why? Do you want me to pay you money or something?" Okay, as far as Natsu's perverted mind could go, he just wanted the question to end on the fourth word. It sounded so right and it could have stopped there—he would have taken her right here, right now. Or his bedroom since Wendy is still with them. The mere idea caused a visible trail of drool on the side of his lip and a slight snapping of the blonde's slender fingers on his face.

He almost forgot. The plan!

"Because you're the one who needs this and no, I don't want your money" He grins, this is all going accordingly. Well, at least for now.

"What do you want then?" She asked casually, she was probably thinking of something more casual anyway. Not like what this certain hormonal guy's thinking right now. There's only one word that came into mind when the question left her mouth.

 _You_. Yes, he wants her. Natsu wants Lucy both flesh and everything. He doesn't even know how he could want something this much. She was becoming sort of addictive. But instead of smoothly dropping the single word like a fucking bomb, he keeps his plan in constant motion.

"I want a rematch in pool" When he learned something from his stalking and their previous meeting at the bar, Lucy Heartfilia can't and doesn't turn down a challenge. If it means winning with the involvement of her expertise, she's in for it. And it didn't take long for the blonde to settle with a challenging smirk. Oh, how he misses her reaction.

"Are you sure about that? You know what happened the last time. It could happen again" Yes, he sucked ass during the whole game but it's not entirely his fault. Number one, he didn't know that this girl is the goddess of pool—so, he took her less than a novice. Second, he is not a god of pool. He knows how to play the game but he didn't mention that he's infinitely awesome at it either. Third, the challenge was not really a challenge. It was just a cover up to remain close to the chic which surprisingly worked. It could probably work two out of three at a time.

"You don't know that. I have a strategy" Honestly, he doesn't. Again, not a challenge just a cover up. But that doesn't mean he's not gonna try. Hell, he's not going to suck ass like last time.

"We'll see about that" She grips on his hand as some sort of agreement, her beautiful brown eyes sparking with determination and interest.

"But if I win, you have to be my slave on Sunday" Natsu saw a flicker of regret in her eyes when he stated a side of a coin but it quickly vanished as it returns to her usual challenging attitude.

"And if I win, then you're going to be my slave on Sunday" She introduced the other side as a matter of fact.

"Deal" They both said at the same time.

Natsu can't wait. Having Lucy as his slave gives him enough determination to actually win a bet just this once. Oh, and his glass was empty a long time ago (3 seconds ago).

* * *

 **Hello guys! Okay, I know what you're probably thinking. My updates are going longer and longer and I'm really sorry. I've been saying sorry but I really tried. This is the only slight opportunity I get to hold my laptop and I still got some homework to do. But other than that, I hope you enjoy reading this.**

 **Also, I am probably making a one shot as an apology for updating late. But I don't know when to upload it xD so... Yeah.**

 **Lastly, follow me on tumblr.** ultrawhitesolitude **:)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

 **Pari forever ft** Please clarify that something you're talking about. Oh no, I sounded mean but really, I want to know specifically what that something is. I want to take every advice to heart as much as I can :) Thanks for pointing that one out though :D

 **HoOisawesome** I think it's more like mild attraction but it builds up ;) stay tuned :D

 **MissCelestian Heart** yes, I know -.-" And I've been waiting for your update. But of course, just take your time. XD I can wait as long as I'm still alive. yoho!

 **FairyTail555** thanks! and here you go! *drops next chapter* XD

 **Fairy Tail 4lyf** your short reviews and speechlessness makes me happy xD thank you for appreciating my story :D

 **To those I haven't mentioned, I'm really thankful for your constant support. Sorry for the long wait though, school is really messing with me. I just failed a test and it makes me kind of sad :|**

 **And can anybody make a fanart or draw as a cover photo? I'm sorry if it's a big request, I know I'm asking for too much but if someone can, just PM me :) I'll be eternally grateful :)**

 **see you sooner :D**

 **byee**


	7. Chapter 7

Pool Action

By Wednesday, the next day, Natsu was overly excited to go home. He had it all planned out the moment he buttoned his shirt. After long hours of processing his work, he'll drive straight home without any sort of benevolent force to stop him, drag his favorite blonde to the pool bar for yet another game of pool (really, just a chance to stay close to her), probably beat her and then, he wins. Umm her. At least for a day. It would be enough to satisfy whatever craving he has on seeing Lucy, or just Lucy as a whole.

But instead of that happening, he wasn't greeted by the babysitter waiting in the kitchen with her pink little apron on. He could have sworn all the luck in the world was on his shoulders. A four leaf clover, leprechaun and a horse shoe along with every other lucky shit known to man is supposed to be on his side. But unfortunately, he saw her passed out on the couch. Lucy was lying on her stomach, one arm dangling on the edge with her legs outstretched. Her golden hair was free from any sort of tie and he just couldn't believe that this girl, she doesn't even try. A sleeping Heartfilia is really something, there's not really a right word to wrap around how she is right now especially when he's standing right in front of her. Her breathing was silent and even, a small smile decorates Natsu's lips. This particular, hot Dragneel never smiled so sincerely towards a girl before. No, he doesn't even cuddle after a long night of unrated love-making. But damn this babysitter for both looking adorably cute and fiery hot at the same time.

With her mouth half-open and the texture of her plump, pink lips inviting him like that, he's absolutely. Going. To. Lose. His. Fucking. Mind. They were desirable but as much as he is a man whore, a playboy or any more ridiculous tag of his expertise, he is not the guy to do such things around an unconscious girl.

Especially if that girl is Lucy.

Before doing anything else, the pinkette snaps a picture of her, grinning to himself that Gray would probably flip, now that he proved him wrong. But maybe he didn't see the wrong concept of creepily sending a picture of an unconscious girl to his best friend.

Oh well.

He doesn't know it himself, maybe it was the tiredness visible under her closed lids or his sky high self-control but he got himself a checkered blanket, sets it to cover the sleeping form before retreating back to his room without even bothering to change his clothes.

Natsu takes it back though, all those luck is still bestowed upon him. He was able to witness a ghost of a smile tainting her lips when he gave her that blanket. And he's not even the type of guy to notice such things but he's turning into a cliche romantic from a chic flick movie.

But right now, he doesn't seem to care as he shrugs his shoulders before falling into dreamland.

* * *

Lucy jolts upright as she awakens. She was having one of those free falling, specifically, falling on top of a skyscraper kind of dream and maybe now is not the right time to fall back to sleep. Because, reading the clock that it was way past 2:00 AM—she overslept. She groggily rubs her eyes as she sits up, noticing the warm, checkered blanket covering half of her sore body. The blonde curiously eyed the thing for a few good seconds, wondering who the thoughtful person was. But since she just woke up, still in a haze and probably did not see the small imprint of two letters, _N.D._ on the corner—her functioning mind at midnight assumed that it was Wendy.

And the owner was actually awake to see this, he was making himself a cup of coffee, unable to sleep so himself. But when he saw her sit up, the curious look on her face followed by confusion, then a cute yawn—had stopped him from going back to his room. He raised a brow in amusement at this, as he watched the half asleep girl fold the blanket neatly.

"You're awake?" Obviously, she is but it is more like a tone of confusion than just to annoy her.

Lucy is still half asleep, she turned her head towards the guy standing in front of the counter—stirring something inside a little cup, probably coffee but if he's in for tea, probably that. She continued eyeing him for good measure, not because he is highly attractive during the witching hour. The disheveled pink hair and pointed, onyx eyes along with his signature sweatpants had finally registered a familiar person.

"Natsu?" She watched as his lips twitch into a grin, confirming that she is right.

"You should go back to sleep... It's too early to be awake" No, she wasn't dreaming, this is reality. When she finally took hold of her senses, the blonde is immediately shocked that this guy, annoying and so flirty—sounded so much genuine.

"What? No half-hearted laughter? No annoying teasing? Nothing? That's it?" She could have sworn he was going to drop his calloused chuckle, say something to annoy the little devil inside her but he remains out of character.

At least not until he opened his smart mouth. "Luce, do you miss me that way?"

It was all too good to be true and just like every time he opened his mouth, she rolled her eyes back. "No, but I better go home"

"At this time? I think you should stay here" He grumbled underneath his cup but Lucy was already gathering her things in her purse.

"Too bad, I have to go home" She was ready to storm away from the house, just like how Natsu remembered her when she stormed past him during that pool game. But not this time, he rushed past her, blocking her way out the door and he just wasted a quarter of his coffee, now grossly sticking on his abdomen.

"No, I'm not letting you" He said it so casually, it irritated her.

She scowled at him hideously, the pinkette almost chocked from his coffee. He never really thought that Lucy is able to pull off a hideous scowl that just made him slightly shiver.

"Natsu. Move. Out. Of. The. Way" She growled and he isn't shivering anymore. Yes, Lucy Heartfilia has the characteristic to play as a dominant and he didn't mind though. Actually, he wondered what it would be like if she is _his_ dominant and he's not thinking right at the moment. He almost did not see his own coffee, at least what was left of it, getting dumped on his face.

"I said I'm not letting you... At least let me take you home" This time, he sounded concerned. Because he really is, knowing every hour past midnight, she'd leave at the most inconvenient of hours. And the blonde is not capable of really believing him, it is more like pride to her than anything.

"Natsu, I'm capable of taking care of myself. So please, move out of the way" Even the pinkette thinks that she was rather dense of the situation.

"This is not about you taking care of yourself. This is about you getting home safely" He pressed and she was way too lost for words to say anything. Befuddled by the fact that Natsu Dragneel is capable of having human compassion.

"Let's just go" He was embarrassed but he doesn't know why. So, without even thinking about it, he took her small hand with his own and dragged her towards his car.

* * *

Who would have thought that Natsu would regret being next to Lucy. Dear god, if he knew that a midnight drive would be this awkward, he would have let her go home on her own. Well, not really, he would still probably convince her to stay. But that's besides the point, just five minutes on the road is enough to convince him otherwise. Their silence stretched longer by the second, he wanted to talk to her but god, they were both awful.

"Sorry for doing this" He mumbled, still focused on the road.

The pinkette felt her eyes and it took every ounce of willpower to look back, the blonde was just testing his patience, at least that's what he thinks.

"No, you're right. Maybe I should go home earlier..." Okay, that's not what he wanted. If she goes home early, then there would be less time of her in the Dragneel residence. He stiffened on his seat.

"Or I could just drive you home every night" It's not a joke, it wasn't meant to be a joke but he heard Lucy snort (very unlady-like), stifle her laughter and then just burst into a series of giggles. He glanced at her just for good measure, really, he prefers her laughing that way than anything else except you know, those things that he always thinks of. Natsu didn't miss the way her eyes would crinkle or her constant catch of breathing that she may have sounded like a dying walrus. Admittedly, he likes it.

"What's so funny?" He finds himself smiling back, she was just contagious.

"I don't know about you but why are you acting like this?"

He shrugs his shoulders, knowing exactly what she's talking about. "What do you mean?"

"This! Why are you acting like a gentleman?!"

Okay, he also knows that she was genuinely asking but he couldn't help but frown.

"I have always been like this" Not. No, Natsu never drove a girl home, unless you count the times where he is about to take the girl in his apartment, only to find out that she's way too drunk to function, just passed out or actually a dude. Two out of those happened to him way too many times. Well, the other one happened to him once. It's a good thing that he found out before they could even... Just the thought of it makes him shudder.

"Really? But you're a playboy"

Natsu's frown deepened, "Is that what you think of me?" Well, it is true. But still...

"That's what I know. Natsu, you're a hot guy, I know you're not wasting your asset by just one girl" She throws her arms in exaggeration. As for the pinkette, if he really is a mature guy, he would take what she said in its context. But his mind could only focus on one thought. _You're a hot guy. You're a hot guy. You're a hot guy. You're a hot guy. You're a hot guy. You're a hot guy._

Slowly, a grin splits his face in two. "You think I'm hot?"

And he risked glancing at her. She was stammering. This is actually caused by him and it was a form of entertainment, watching her attempting to sound cool about it.

"Y-yeah, there's no denying it. That's what makes you... You, I suppose" Suddenly, his amusement crushes before him. He hates how he knows what she's talking about. He grips on the steering wheel tighter, not in the mood anymore to continue talking like this. Natsu is not denying that part of him, being a constant flirt in the society. But he hates that Lucy _only_ sees him that way. He's not fond of the title but he's already entitled to it either. So what is he so upset about? No one knows. Not even him.

"That doesn't make me, me Luce..." He mumbled, she barely heard it even if the radio was completely muted.

"Well whatever... But if someone asks me, I'm entitled to share what I know" She softly laughed and it's not even appealing much as a joke to him. But even so, he forces out his chuckles later on.

"Luce... Can you stop thinking about me that way? Even for just a second?" A trace of sadness is there and of course, the blonde could see it. She did not say a word—only eyed him for god knows how long because she was trying to figure him out.

The midnight drive became silent once again and Natsu prefers it that way as he floods the silence with the shitty songs from the radio. He doesn't say a word nor turn to look at her anymore.

* * *

Lucy watched as Natsu speeds away, hurriedly driving away from her. It was her fault, was it? She sighed heavily before striding inside her apartment building tiredly. Now that she thinks further into it, she only said what she thinks of him. There's really nothing wrong with what she said. So, she went along with it as she pushes the door of her unit before shutting it close with her foot.

Without even bothering to take a brisk shower like she originally planned, she falls to her bed instead with a soft thud as she nuzzles her pillow comfortably. Of course, without even admitting to it, this has something to do with Natsu a few minutes ago. Sure, they were conversing in way when she tells him the directions of her apartment but that was it. It could have been a little less tense if it weren't for her.

The blonde groans heavily into her pillow when she realized this. It is her fault.

And as much as she wants to avoid his ridiculousness, at the end of the day, she doesn't want to be anyone's form of anger or frustration. She tumbles and turns when she thinks about this way too much than she should have.

So, that's how you lose a few hours of sleep.

* * *

Over the course of Thursday, Natsu was actually serious. He thought long and hard of what she said. Yes, people and most of all, his friends had said the same thing a few years back but why does this affect him now? Lucy is not any different, she called him a playboy, he hears that word often. She said that's what she knows and the blonde is not far ahead of accuracy and precision. It's the same old bullshit he dealt with his friends back then, but why now? Out of all those times, why now? He pressed further into this but he keeps on getting back at nothing. The pinkette doesn't know it himself but the thought of Lucy knowing him _that way_ just puts a bitter taste in his mouth. He's more than just a hot body and a pretty face.

But unfortunately, even as he asked his friends about what they think of him, they all said the same thing. _You're a player, dude. You're the hearthrob in the party. You hang out with girls a lot._ Scratch that, Lucy is accurate and precise.Although Gray was different, cause he knows him best but that doesn't count. Majority of his friends just proved that Lucy is right. He's not gonna lie to himself anymore, her words did cut through forming an open wound because it's true and it's petty being remembered like that.

Then again, he could change that.

 _I'll prove you wrong, Heartfilia_ The sound of her last name in his mind didn't seem right at the moment—no, not when he's this frustrated, yanking his hair into fists kind of frustrated. He is and he will, that's what he is notorious for anyway. Natsu doesn't do anything half-assed, not when he's being this serious. He'll strip the habit off even if he has to. He'll prove her wrong until she admits it.

Speaking of stripping, even Gray's messages about his spams of the shocked emoji doesn't perk the pinkette's interest that much. He is still thinking, frowning and sulking at the same time. It sucks for him to be hit by all those unwanted thoughts all at once like a fucking train. God, he doesn't even know why he's feeling this way. It's just Lucy.

He snaps back to reality when a plate of curry rice is placed before him with none other than the girl who has been invading the space in his mind. Lucy also glanced at him suspiciously but maybe it was just his imagination. It doesn't help that he's been thinking lately anyway.

"Okay, I know it's not my place but what's wrong?" Natsu forms his lips into an "O", so he's not imagining things. Lucy noticed.

"No, nothing's wrong. I'm fine" He grumbled as he took a spoonful after spoonful, hovering over the plate like he doesn't want his face to be seen. Oddly enough, the blonde finds it between weird and cute. Weird, because he's acting very differently. He's not irking her for a punch in the face nor is he saying something unintended to be stupid. Cute, because he's tall. And it's awkward hovering over a plate like that but for Natsu, he managed to look like a ten year old blowing his birthday cake.

"Are you sure? If this has anything to do with what I said yesterday... S-sorry, I-I'm just a straight forward kind of person, you know" Natsu could tell that she feels bad, he had his mouth stuck between opening and closing. Realizing that, it's not just him thinking about this. All of a sudden, he could see the circles of tiredness visible under her eyes.

"It's fine. I just... I don't know—if you could give me a chance, I might prove you wrong. I might prove everyone wrong. I'm not just _that,_ Luce... If you stop seeing me as that guy, maybe I might change your mind" Natsu is not so sure himself but he's going to try. There's nothing wrong with proving someone wrong anyway. This time, it was the babysitter's turn, having trouble with opening and closing her mouth. She never really expected him to actually admit to anything and it just proves to her that she is accountable of being at fault. She judged him and fairly, he admits it to be right. But he wants to redeem himself.

How can she say no to a guy wanting to redeem himself?

"Alright" She crosses her arms over her chest. "I'll bite"

He smirks at this—no, not his infamous mischievous smirks. It's more like a fiery confidence than anything else.

"Alright, you better get ready next week then" She watches as he returns to his normal self, downing his food selfishly into a huge spoonful. Apart from this, Lucy is actually relieved that they cleared some things up a bit. At least the awkwardness between them didn't last any longer than a week like she thought.

When he finally finished, she gets his plate and washes the dishes. It's funny how she's used to naturally slipping the pink apron on and cooking something for the two Dragneels. The blonde honestly finds it odd that she's now used to it at the span of just four days. Her train of thought suddenly stops when she stumbles to the right as a rather tall form squeezes himself beside her.

"Here, let me help" Lucy did not have enough time to protest because he was already shoving himself, their elbows touching as they both try their best to stay in front of the poor sink. So, the known playboy is not spouting bullshit earlier, she actually doubted a few seconds ago. She smirks at this, clearly amused.

"When I told you that I'll bite, I didn't mean that you're going to feed me easily"

He chuckles at this. "What can I say? I aim to please"

* * *

 **Hello guys! Woaah, thank you for the 50+ reviews and the amount of the huge support. This is outstanding, even for me :0**

 **And I feel guilty for writing something this bad, I apologize if this chapter in particular doesn't suit your taste. I admit that this is rather a bit weird and ridiculous for me, I'm really sorry. This is not just for the sake of updating but this is also for the sake of progressing. Right now, I have to study for my exams on August for my college. I hope I pass my dream university.**

 **Anyway, enough with my blabbering about my school life.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

 **Pari forever ft** First, I understand how confusing it is to read Lucy's character, it's just my way of writing or my perception, really. Not continuing to read my fic is also fine with me :) I've been on the same shoes anyway :) Also,I apologize if I hurt you in any way, err... I really have no idea. Okay so, I'm so sorry but you can't let me not be affected by "just" your opinion. Even if it's "just" your opinion and a lot of people support this story, yours still matters to me. Every one's opinion will, no matter how good and bad it is. That's constructive criticism after all. But like what you said, that doesn't mean I'm gonna change my way of writing. It's always gonna make me motivated, there's nothing more that I want than advice from my readers :) love ya too~

 **FairyTailLife** I'm so sorry but it's going to be busier this time :( I will try to work my schedule to fit another update soon. I hope you're still enjoying :)

 **Fairy Tail 4lyf** err that's three words xD but thank you so much!

 **Fairy Tail xxx** right about know *bombs you an update*

 **Yeah, my tumblr: ultrawhitesolitude**

 **see you soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, High School Musical and Trap Queen (just read why haha)**

Pool Action

The clock strikes at 12:10 A. M. as Lucy fixes her schedule for the entire busy week she's going to have. She was supposed to get her fair share of rest during Wendy's bed time but the moment she was about to, her brain decided to troll her by reminding her of the forgotten messed up schedule, so now, here she is in the Dragneel residence, tired and restless.

She suddenly jolts on her half laying position, when her phone decided to ring and with scrunched up brows of confusion, she immediately swipes to answer. Now who decided to call her at this ungodly hour?

"Hello?" She started.

"Lulu-chan! Hey!" The blonde had to extend her arm as far away as possible from the loudness of Sting's voice along with the bass drops, she knew it was him.

"Uh good evening, Sting. Do you need anything?" The blonde glares at her unfinished work and she was supposed to leave by one.

"Lulu, can't I check up on my favorite girl?" This time, she eyed her phone weirdly.

"Sting, are you drunk?" It's obvious enough already, plus the " _I'm-gonna-call-my-ex_ " kind of drunk isn't something that Lucy needs right now. In fact, she probably needs to stand up from the living room and pour herself some coffee, she'll just have to bear with the taste.

She heard him chuckle as an answer and just like what she usually does, she rolls her eyes. "Okay, I'm gonna hang up now-"

"No wait!" The tired blonde was about to hang up but the guy decided to go to someplace more silent, she knows this because the music started to become more distant with each passing second.

When the silence stretched for miles that it felt awkward, Lucy sighed tiredly. She just wants to finish her work and rest now. "What do you want, Sting?" The tone of her voice suggested that she doesn't need a drunk call from her ex but apparently, the other blonde didn't get the hint.

" _I miss you_ " She expected these words, she knows but she doesn't say anything. In this very second, she forgets how to breathe just like how college-on-crisis girls react when they get called by their ex in the movies.

"You're drunk, you need to rest" Is probably the safest answer and response she could give him but then again-

"I miss you" He whispered and he doesn't sound drunk, those words wouldn't have affected her but for some reason, it kind of does. Lucy feels her chest tightening but she stands still on solid ground.

But his words didn't end there. "So much…"

They both paused, hearing each other's silent breaths and unspoken emotions. It was as if, they were waiting on each other to say anything.

And so, Lucy spoke first. "I have to go, bye" She didn't wait for his response, she ended the call with a slight shake of her fingers. Still bewildered by what happened, she decided to get herself some coffee and just finish her work but through the time being, her mind was all over the place. There's a part of her that persuades her that it was probably nothing, he's drunk for heaven's sake! But then again, people say alcohol brings out the truth in people. So does that mean she's hoping? She stops in that territory as she calls her fixed schedule a wrap.

By 1:10 A.M. Erza shows up from work just as tired like every other day, her best friend was too tired and too hungry to even greet her as she staggers to the kitchen and eats some leftover spaghetti. Thank goodness there weren't any form of talking between them, Lucy didn't want to talk right now, so before the redhead could even start asking of the blonde's day, she bids farewell.

And Erza doesn't say anything about her best friend's attitude as she continued downing a cold glass of water.

* * *

Friday passed by rather too quickly by the adult Dragneel, he was extremely in a good mood during work that his co-workers noticed and when asked why, all he did was flash them a cheeky smile and do finger pistols. He was over the top, he's like the protagonist of an 80's musical.

He had it all planned out, actually he didn't mind if he's going to lose in their quote and quote "match and bet", it gives him more valid excuse to be with her without looking desperate anyway. But sure as hell he's going to try, there's no way he's losing without a fight.

With that in mind, he parked his car in front of their house, happily skipped to the door and decided to sing song his greeting cause he's really feeling the role of Troy Bolton in High School Musical.

"Lucccceeeeee, I'm home~!" As he peels his shoes off, expecting a Gabriella-like response from the blonde, he didn't receive any.

So much for being in character, pff.

Instead, he got the opposite. Lucy isn't Lucy, she's totally different today with her frizzy hair and tugged into a forced bun, it looks like it has its own life to be honest. Then there's her usual attire except she was wearing all black, black slacks, black stilettos, black blouse, black blazer and dark shades, she looked like an insider, nothing wrong with that except for the fact that her clothes were a little too big. Overall, she seemed a little off but Natsu decided to be smart at the same time dumb about it.

"Hey Luce! Cool outfit, so where's Robin?"

Also, instead of getting an eye roll from the blonde, she glared at him sharply. He doesn't even know how she managed to look scary under those huge ass glasses, also a little too big for her face.

"You okay? You seem-"

"I'm fine" She snapped but with the pinkette, who has limited knowledge over getting the feel of things, concluded that she was just being feisty for the match (even though it doesn't make any sense, Natsu leaned on this more than any other possibilities).

"… So are you prepared to lose?" As he smirked, she replied with a "psshh…" before getting her matching black purse and walking passed him.

"Let's just go" She added.

And with that, they "just" went.

* * *

Okay, So Natsu is a dense bastard. He swore he's never going to have another awkward drive with Lucy but apparently, that's what's happening to him right now. Her back totally turned towards him as he hums Trap Queen as their theme song in their so called musical.

As he halts the car over the red light, he debates to himself if he should or shouldn't ask if she was alright because even up to this point, girls are confusing him. They're like moving time bomb… So he cuts the first wire.

"Hey Lucy, are you okay?" At this point, a chill travels down his spine as she slightly turns her head in his direction with an unreadable emotion.

"I said I'm fine" Then back to the window.

Hence, this proves Natsu's simile. But this doesn't mean he can't cut through any more wires, if a girl says she's fine, she really isn't. At least that's what he learned during his very, very, very, very long time ago serious relationship, back when he wasn't an asshole to girls.

"No you're not… There's something bothering you, isn't it?" He didn't dare to look at her as he cuts another wire.

She sighs heavily this time but instead of reacting passively, she responded with, "What if there is something bothering me? What are you going to do?" He noticed how she emphasized _is_ , it perked his interest.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do…" He honestly doesn't.

But then he added "But I'm gonna do something" It only took him a curious glance from the girl beside him to produce an invisible microphone from his hand as he erupted into a series of not so flattering tones.

"We're breakin' free, soarin! Flying!" He continued channeling the Troy Bolton in him until he saw a ghost of a smile tainting her lips.

"Take it away, Gabriella!" He placed the invisible mic towards her and she went with him, singing her part. In this moment, Natsu discovered that the already perfect girl can sing without sounding like a pig being slaughtered like he does.

As cheesy as it sounds, he watched her eyes crinkle at the end from laughing along with the wide smile plastered over her face. He did the back up vocals that ruined the entire song and she knew this because that's the reason why she's laughing and admittedly or not, it's okay if he looked stupid.

By the time they reached the bar, they finished the songs on the first movie. Yeah, he's in a musical indeed.

* * *

"I'm gonna ask you again, are you ready to lose?" Lucy watched him polish his stick (get your mind out of the gutter) with a determined smirk and he matched hers with her own.

"Same question…" She didn't exactly know why she acted that way in the first place, Sting's words really DID affect her but right now, he's helping her through distraction. There's no form of uneasiness and overthinking right now, she's secretly thankful that Natsu's a little silly.

"So who goes first?" She asks as she polishes her own stick.

"Well, I'm going to be smart this time and I don't want to see any eye rolling" He cheekily warned and he finally got the response he expected.

An eye roll.

With that, the pinkette positioned himself for a break as he angles himself before striking a hit. Luckily enough or with a skill on fire, a ball drops into a hole. He takes this opportunity to glance at his rival, who's smirking beautifully by the way. He secretly thanked the heavenly bodies that she removed those ugly frames, he can finally see her doll-like, chocolate eyes.

"Lucky" She muttered as he went to the opposite side to hit the second ball.

"You'll get your turn soon, baby"

"I know I will, baby" As subtle as flirting can be, Natsu couldn't hide the grin etched on his face as he took his turn and it went sooner than expected, he missed his shot on the third and Lucy saw why.

The blonde glanced down at her blouse and back at the pinkette on the opposite end of the pool table. "Were you staring at my boobs?" With her eyes narrowed in accusation, he looked away while awkwardly coughing.

"Perv" She muttered as she took her turn.

For about four turns and finally the last one to win, Natsu walked up from beside her. "Alright you were being unfair, I'm just getting back at you" He remarked as he caged her with his arms.

"What are you-" She cuts herself off when she realized how close they were, clearing her throat once, she repeated herself. "What are you talking about?"

"You were distracting me" Arguably, Lucy doesn't know whether she should feel flattered or annoyed but she responded with hitting him heavily on the arm.

"It wasn't on purpose"

"On purpose or not you were distracting me… That's cheating" Suddenly, she could feel the warmth of his body. She notices the subtle scar on his neck and notices that his eyes really does look… Interstellar.

Lucy doesn't know who's leaning but they were definitely getting closer but that didn't last long when someone disturbed them with a cough and she could see him through her peripheral vision. She immediately broke away from his embrace.

"Sting! Hey…"

Natsu isn't a sociopath but by the time Sting interrupted their "game", he started silently plotting his death while faking a polite smile as the blonde introduced him.

"Natsu this is Sting… My um… Friend" And as he flicked his eyes at the guy, he knew the other blonde was thinking the same thing. He could see red in his ocean blue eyes, he just got to plan it better.

But first, the pinkette beamed a handsome smile, showing his canines as he extended his hand.

"And Sting this is Natsu… My…. My boyfriend" For a fraction of a second, probably 1/8 of it, his eyes gradually grew wide as she took him by the arm. Smirking at Sting just to annoy the devil inside him was the best so far and he seized this opportunity to wrap a protective arm around her slender waist to pull her closer.

As she squirmed over his touch, Natsu just held her tighter.

"Nice to meet you, Natsu"

"The pleasure's all mine" Then they both shook each other's hand.

"I was just going to say hi but it looked like I interrupted something" Lucy was about to answer but Natsu beats her to it.

"Yeah you were kind of interrupting something" She could only gape at him as murder danced in his pitch black eyes.

"I'm sorry… It's not gonna happen again. So Lulu, I'll see you soon, okay?" With that, he makes his exit.

* * *

"Well Lucy, I didn't know we were a couple… Buy me dinner first" He jokes around but she's not in for any joking.

Natsu Dragneel's gonna get it. Lucy messed the whole situation up the first time and now he crumpled the entire thing the second time. She glared daggers at him until the huge grin on his face disappears.

"I can't believe you just said that!" She yelled viciously, not caring if there are people staring but fortunately for them, there's only the bartender, the manager and a server who's not Jellal.

"What do you mean? I was playing the part!" He defensed.

"You don't get it, don't you? I was handling the situation!"

"Why'd you introduced me that way then?"

"…"

"…"

"Why?"

"… Because he's my ex and something happened"

* * *

 **Hello guys! omg you probably hate me by now and I'm sorry if I disappeared but I got really busy. Super busy up to the point that I can't even log in and do an update, also I'm using my mom's laptop for this update :) I hope you guys can bear with me... It's been months since my last update and i'll do a Between Two Neighbors update next :)**

 **Just please bear with me, I know it will take weeks probably months for another update but I'm trying my best :) I'm giving you a forewarning that it will take me a very long time to update both stories but if you're still there, I'm very humbled and thankful for your support :) if you're not there, I understand :) I've been on the same position, waiting is a pain in the ass and I gave up on certain fics before...**

 **But i will not give up on updating and finishing both stories, I promise you :)**

 **Give a review, a follow or a fave! I think my writing style changed, please let me know what you think tho. hahaha**

 **follow me on tumblr: ultrawhitesolitude**

 **byee, see you on the next update :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

Pool Action

"… Because he's my ex and something happened"

When those words left the beautiful blonde's mouth, Natsu doesn't know what to feel. By acknowledging Lucy's reaction, it looks like he just caught the two blondes doing something forbidden. Well, the vivid imagery of her and Sting making sweet love under the moonlight made him gag.

"I need a drink" He said before urgently walking over to the snooping bartender a few feet back.

In this moment, Lucy had no idea what just happened. They were fine a while ago but then Sting happened. If it weren't for her stupid idea of spontaneously introducing Natsu as her pretend boyfriend, none of this would have happened, would it? But then again, why would he be mad at her? It's nothing special, really. Besides, it's not like they would be here for long.

When she convinced herself of not having to apologize, she played by herself instead. (Reading it out loud isn't as good as it sounds).

* * *

Now, it wasn't long until the cozy bar started to fill with more people looking for excuses to drink old whiskey much like himself. It wasn't long either when a few glasses intoxicated his judgment, as he looked at his calloused hands dizzily, he was very confused.

"… Where's my other hand?!" The pinkette demanded, probably looking for his hypothetical third hand.

The raven head bartender snickered at him, used to the weird and possibly weirder drunkards like Natsu. Well, there used to be an infamous story of a girl who got so drunk, she thought she could control water. But beside the point, he eyed the now disappointed guy warily.

"Need another drink?" The bartender knew he doesn't need another, he just downed six glasses of whiskey for less than an hour, but he's just doing his job. More alcohol means more money, basically.

"No… I… -I think I've had enough" Natsu answered in between hiccups.

"You sure? You look like you need an entire bottle" He grinned, polishing a few glasses.

Of course, it was half a joke but he didn't expect the drunken fucker to grab the entire bottle from his side and open it with his teeth. Like seriously, who does that? He was too fascinated to even react that he did not notice the weirdo gulping the contents dangerously fast.

"Was this… Supposed to help… Me? It… didn't" Natsu's lids were slowly retiring and his gestures were becoming silly. His skin burned red, along with the strong scent of alcohol curling under his breathe. Overall, the bartender thought he was stupid but at the same time, he could earn an entire week off from this guy.

"I didn't mean it, you idiot! But you still have to pay for all this…"

Even in his drunken state, somehow he successfully nodded his head without throwing up as he threw a bunch of bills twice the amount of the actual price. Well, he didn't care nonetheless. He just wants to go home and sleep forever.

* * *

Lucy was so bored out of her ass that after her fifth game, she needed to stop. Ignoring the situation was the wrong decision obviously. And she just wants to go home. She remembered that it's almost the start of her and Erza's favorite series. So, she called her buddy.

…

…

…

A few rings later, it went straight to voice mail. How typical.

She glanced at the bar, finding particularly no pinkette, emphasis on Natsu being the only guy who has attention-grabbing pink hair. Now, where did that guy run off to? How can she lose a guy with pink hair anyway?

Then, three beeps followed…

"Umm… Erza, I'm at the bar and I don't have a ride to go home… You're babysitting Wendy during the weekends, right? Please pick me up"

Honestly, there isn't a tinge of hope that Erza, a punctual worker with three different jobs would answer her call. She's not exactly a competent friend either now that she found herself a gross eye candy like Jellal. The very thought made her eyes roll.

Lucy hoped that Natsu was still around. She'll just apologize to him, whatever she did. She just wants to go home. So, she walked up to the bar as the bartender acknowledged her.

"Hey, have you seen the pink-haired idiot around?"

The bartender looked at her hideously as if she offended him about his mother. "Seriously? That guy?" Okay, maybe not. He just thought that they were a thing, but she has no time to explain and plead not guilty.

"Listen, he was here a while ago… Where is he now?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Oh he went off… Mumbling about tuxedos and blonde hair"

Lucy sighed in annoyance. She can't believe this, he left her in a bar on the afternoon. She could be doing something more important by now like watching that unadulterated series, but instead, she's stuck. So she did the only sensible thing she could think of, call Erza several times until she answers.

Alas, after a reasonable amount of missed calls (thirty freakin' eight), she finally gave up. Her annoyance along with the noticeable stench of alcohol and cigarettes aren't helping either, it was just a foul reminder of a not so long ago past. Anyway, she staggered away from the bar and took a long inhale as she made it outside. There might be a few friends or workmates she could cry out for help. Lucy got her phone out and browsed through her contacts, mentally noting a few factors like:

Evergreen, a friend and workmate, fancies a green sedan but she's too fast for a regular driver. Heck, she might break her neck in seventeen different places.

Mirajane could have been the second choice if it weren't for her tiny scooter, there isn't enough space for her entire ass anyway and the bleach-haired girl will comment about it.

There's Bisca, whom she attended a garden wedding to but cannot possibly be an option because she's too busy being in love.

Parent… A gazillion miles away from her. Along with her other friends. But then she stopped swiping with her thumb, there is one name, a person she thought she would ever consider calling.

Sting. He owns a lot of cars, jesus on a tricycle, one lazy day, afternoon she even saw him on a car magazine cover because he likes to race during his free time. There are a few other good things why she should but there is a bigger issue why she shouldn't. That awkward drunk call followed by that awkward boyfriend introduction is just a huge NO.

Out of having the worst luck possible this day, the sky lost its blue almost instantly. Lucy gazed at the greying clouds and just as she sighed in annoyance, the timing couldn't be any more perfect. She's wet within seconds.

That's what he said.

But anyway, the blonde struggled with keeping herself dry from the small side roof of the bar. Great, not only is she stuck but she's cold as well. She gazed at her phone, thankfully, she saved it. There are just enough reasons to call him, it's not like they're gonna have a deep conversation about what happened and what couldn't, right? With a few more convincing, she came up with one last resort.

She pressed call.

On the third ring, she heard his voice.

"Hello? This is Sting and I'm speaking to?" Sting sounded so formal, she doesn't exactly know why she's so surprised. He's a businessman for pete's sake!

"Um hi Sting… It's me… I just-I… You wouldn't believe what happened to me today" Lucy thought Sting couldn't probably believe how desperate she sounds right now. But he remains the same.

"Lucy?"

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it right now" Not. She whipped her head to the other side and saw an expensive looking car with its window down, with Sting still have his phone over his ear.

Meanwhile, Lucy dramatically gazed back at him. Genuinely surprised that he's already there. Crap, he's a better companion than Erza during these past few days. She thought. "Were you here the whole time?"

"Not exactly. I was just about to go home… Then I saw you" There was a painfully long pause followed by Lucy realizing she's staring too long.

"Well do you want to go?"

"Yeah" She was breathless. Why does she suddenly find it so hard to breathe? But she puts her phone away and rushes towards the door.

And she halts, guilt flooding her system when she sees the expensive velvet seating. "Are you sure its alright? I mean-I'm"

"Lucy… It's okay"

* * *

Sting Eucliffe is a very busy man. There are instances that he would rather cancel all his plans, meetings and all that crap to have some time for himself. In fact, there are instances that he just wants to chuck his phone on the wall from all the beeping and the caps lock shouting from missed appointments.

His phone is beeping right now and he sighs, a much heavier one because he just had a call from one of his clients. But this one in particular isn't saved in his contacts like the rest.

" _Um hi Sting… It's me… I just-I… You wouldn't believe what happened to me today_ " She doesn't need to introduce herself, Sting wondered if she knew how much he still knew her. Entirely.

"Lucy?" Then there it was again, that overwhelming thundering in his chest. He first felt it when he arrived back in Fiore a few weeks ago. But before he could remind himself some more, he slightly tilted his head to the left.

There she was. She was soaking wet, concluded by the damp blonde hair and her contorted annoyance towards the weather. He pulls the car on park, he was going to turn left anyway.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it right now" The look on her face was priceless. Sting couldn't help himself but smile a little as if he was grateful for the rain and the absence of a pink-haired weirdo. He already forgot his name.

And so he turns to the left and stops right beside her.

A few moments later, Lucy was minding about wetting the velvet seat covers but Sting was minding about the rain and the girl under it. When she closed the door, he couldn't help but wonder a bit.

"Do you mind telling me the unbelievable thing that happened?" He watched her nervously laugh and play with her damp blonde hair.

"Yeah well Natsu left and he sort of… Forgot me" He narrowed his eyes on the road, there are many things he wondered after that. What kind of guy leaves his girl in a bar? And how the hell is she tolerating any of this? Sting remembers that Lucy is not the kind of girl who can easily be forgotten, she wasn't and he knows she still isn't. Now, this annoys him but he doesn't question her. He gives her a glance instead.

She's all wet clothes and chattering cold. "Take off your clothes"

"… Excuse me?" Okay, Sting didn't mean it to sound so casually.

"You're freezing… I have some clothes there at the back, you have to change before you catch a cold" He leans back to get his spare white undershirt and some boxer shorts before cruising to drive.

He could feel her suspicious gaze fixated on him. "Just change, please… I'm not even looking, I have to drive to get us both in one piece"

"So if that stoplight turns red, you are going to look?"

Sting opens his mouth to say something, "I-no, I was just-"

Lucy giggled with her eyes crinkling at the end. "Kidding… I know you wouldn't. Such a gentleman you became" He could tell she was changing but he smiles at her words.

"Is that what you learned in London? Picking up desperate ladies from the rain just in time?"

"You'd be surprised with how rarely it rains there…"

"Yeah…" They both fell into silence. They both knew how boring the weather in London is. Sting knew in great detail how Lucy almost lived all her life with her parents but when her parents became only one, everything followed a short while after.

"So Sting tell me, how's it like? I mean… Being back here after what, like three weeks?"

Ecstatic. Nostalgic. Relief. And _something else_. When his brother settled down somewhere at the coast and entitled everything to him, he doesn't give any second thoughts of doing all main transactions in Fiore. There has always been one person he thought of in that entire country and it was worthwhile to go back all the same.

"I don't know… Still in shock I guess" He says instead.

"I mean, there are quite a lot of drastic changes the last time I was here… I actually got lost along the way" Admittedly, it was the truth.

"Well that includes my apartment, turn right and then left"

"Hold on, you don't want to go back to my place to get some proper clothes?"

"It's fine. I'll give this back to you washed and cleaned tomorrow… Besides, Erza might be looking for me then"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Suit yourself"

* * *

Natsu jostles and is awakened, wonders how the hell did he end up curled up on his doorstep? And why he's missing one shoe of all things? He sits up and suddenly, his head is in pain and the world is spinning. He took his phone lying on the floor and read the time. It's now 5:19 P.M. Before he noticed what he forgot.

"HOLY CRAP! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT TO HELL, LUCY!" He said everything in a slurred yet understandable tone. He forgot about Lucy. How can he forget Lucy?! Then, there were weird flashbacks of whiskey and empty glasses as an answer.

Natsu gets up on his feet and doesn't mind the killing hangover, he needs to check if she's still there and she might be. For all he knows, she's probably getting hit on by random strangers once again. So he got in a taxi because he doesn't have enough concentration to be capable enough to drive.

He quickly checks his phone for any sort of clue or whatever but finds nothing. He doesn't remember anything other than being drunk, this is all hopeless but as soon as he arrives, he realizes two things all at once.

It's now Saturday and Lucy's in the bar with Sting.

* * *

 **Hi guys! Well, this update it faster done than I thought it would be and in fact, I'm actually so satisfied with my work but anyway, I did the best I could for this update and I can't keep telling you guys of excuses why I have a late update. You probably know why because I keep telling you but again, I couldn't be more thankful enough for your words of encouragement. SO thank you for the support still, I will never get tired of saying thank you to you all :)**

 **nicole143mb** here it is! hope you enjoy :)

 **Grimnack** here you go :) and i will guard it with my own life-wait what?

 **Pari forever ft** aww your support is always one of the best :) thank you for the kinds words, i seriously can't hahaha my heart is just warm with love and all that :D thank you so much! i will try me best for the next update as well hihi

 **TopazDesiertoFleur** really? that's good to hear :D thank you, i actually don't notice those subtle differences but thank you for noticing the change and it's a good one too! thanks :) and mannnn, your patience is amazing and so long! a yearly update... that's awesome, how you can wait but if the fic is that good i can see why not? :)

 **Okay, just continue letting me know of my writing, improvement or not... Anything at all so that I would know what I have to tweak and improve more :) love youu guys!**

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 **byee, see you on the next update!**

 **Next update: Between Two Neighbors Chapter 32**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer** **:** **I do not own Fairy Tail.**

Pool Action

Natsu stood there for a few seconds longer, observing the two blondes casually sat opposite each other. The guy was just sharing something that made Lucy chuckle, something he did which took three days. But anyway, he decided to waltz in and interrupt their "sexual tension" by wrapping one strong arm around the curve of her waist, catching the other blonde's attention right away.

"Luce, thank goodness you're here" He casually strides to sit with her, not paying a second glance on the other side.

"Oh hey, I didn't expect to see you here, you know… After you left me on my own yesterday" Then she laughed, dripping in thick sarcasm and all.

This isn't such an invitation to be the sweet boyfriend and shower her with affection but that's what he did anyway. He was feeling bold, especially in front of Sting, he pulls her in for a hug which looked more like Lucy being buried over his chest and leather jacket as he tucked her head under his chin.

"Luce, I'm so sorry" He heard her snort.

"Please don't get mad at me, I don't want you mad at me. I don't want us fighting" He may have went overboard into their hypothetical relationship and she may have not stopped him from being hugged.

Natsu's words are true, he felt terrible for leaving her _with him_. He isn't the type of guy to leave a lady (although this has happened a couple of times), in fact, he chases. Lucy, however is a special case. He chases and he feels bad about the situation. But he did not just come here to amend for his idiocy, he wanted to ask her so so badly.

So when he released his hold, he settled his hands over her shoulders, looking at her straight in the eyes.

"And you're driving me crazy… I just have to ask you" He is so into his role that he actually forgot about Sting, well not until he caught him from his peripheral vision.

The pinkette faces the blonde. "Do you mind if I borrow my girlfriend for a while?"

"Of course not" Natsu didn't even wait for two seconds, he just stood up and dragged his "girlfriend" by the wrist. It actually surprised him that he found it easy without her restrain, at least that's what he thought.

When they reached the back door exit, she flicked her wrist away from his grasp. Just as he was about to question, the deadly look in her eyes demanded for him to spill.

"Lucy, can I ask you about Sting?" He was impatient, those weird thoughts were irking him.

"No. But what you can do for me is to stop acting like an actual boyfriend before I slap your face with the heel of my stiletto" While Lucy was sassy when he first met her, he cringed at the visuals of getting his face pommeled by heels.

"Noted"

"And mind your goddamn business!"

"Are you and Sting together?" Okay. That did not sound right in his head because he actually said it out loud. Natsu didn't mean to, he really didn't but it was too late now. He watched as Lucy's rage morphs into shock followed by confusion, she even looked offended.

"He's my ex why would we be toge-I said it's none of your business!" When her tongue slipped, her words caught him off guard. All assumptions and sharp visuals of erotic sub context are gone. So they did not have sex, that _something happened_ which screamed _we had sex_ is false.

But just to be clear, "So when you said something happened, it didn't mean you two…?" Natsu didn't need to continue because Lucy had hit him with her stiletto. She wasn't kidding at all and it hurts like a bitch.

"What?! We didn't! What kind of girl do you take me for, Natsu?" She was so red and so ready to hit him again but when he recovered, he wrapped his arms around her and then spun her around while laughing like a crazy person.

"A different one… Luce, I don't know what you're doing to me but god… You make me crazy" That was the truth. During the entire taxi ride to the bar, he was going crazy. A bit anxious if you will. Thoughts flooded his mind about the infamous Sting Eucliffe, he just knows she's with him, and that entirely is enough to lose some of his sanity.

As for Lucy, it was probably from the way he said it that just catches her off guard for the second time. Those were lines from a movie, this is a scene from a movie, that's what she thought. But she easily snaps back to reality just in time to hit him again.

"Oww! What was that for?!" He moans as he rubs the soar part on his forehead.

"That is for being an idiot!"

"This," She slaps him hard, indeed is painful on her part as well but she doesn't flinch. "Is for being an asshole" She turns on her heel and doesn't wait for any response but just as she opens the door, he says.

"I promise I'll make it up to you" The door closes in front of Natsu.

* * *

A few hours after Natsu had stupidly forgotten Lucy and Sting coming to the rescue, he drops her off to her apartment. A not so flattering five-story brick building sandwiched between an old boutique and a crowded coffee shop. He opens her door before observing the sight before him.

"Not your usual cup of tea, isn't it?" She says as she slings her black purse along with her black blazer.

"This is not entirely a bad place but may I ask?" Lucy eyes him for a few seconds before nodding.

"We both know you can afford a unit somewhere in Crocus but why here?" It was a reasonable question, all in utter curiosity but she gives him an unreasonable answer, a snort followed by a soundless laughter.

"If I bought a unit in Hamptons while I'm proving a point to my father, I wouldn't be Lucy, I would just be Heartfilia" That was the last she said before giving him a small wave and entering. Sometimes, Sting forgets how much effect she has on people every time she opens her mouth. That most times, he finds himself questioning why he agreed to break up with her in the first place.

But he doesn't speak those thoughts out loud, instead he looks up at the worn-out red bricks assembled into a building before shuffling inside his car and driving off.

What Lucy didn't know is that her neighbor slash best friend slash series buddy saw the entire thing unfold before her eyes over the third floor of the apartment. When the redhead first saw Lucy saying something to Sting, she observed him from a bird's eye view. He still definitely likes Lucy. That's the conclusion and she can't wait to force her best friend out of it either, so she shuffles to her feet and almost breaks the door open to catch her climbing up the stairs.

"You need to tell me everything" She takes the blonde by the shoulders and pushes her up the stairs to hurry and it doesn't take Lucy a second to know exactly what she means.

"I knew it. Erza, there's nothing to tell… Sting just offered me a ride" It wasn't long before Lucy throws herself on the creases of her sofa and moans in delight for being home at last but Erza notices something.

"But why are you wet?"

"God, Erza… I'm not _that_ kind of wet, it was from the rain…"

"And you're wearing Sting's clothes because…?" Lucy eyed her friend over her shoulder, she hovering above her in a back and forth phase.

"Like I said it was raining, he asked me for a ride, I humbly accepted and he offered me his clothes. That's it"

"You changed inside his car?"

"Yes"

"So he saw you naked?"

"What? No!"

"Wait, he borrowed you his clothes, so does it mean he stripped and gave them to you?"

Erza… Stop making this difficult. He has spare clothes" The redhead seats on the floor, leaning on the sofa with a disappointed pout.

"Boring. Are you sure you didn't go wild in the backseat or-"

"No! Jesus… What have you been doing with Jellal?"

"Well I know it has something to do with leather…" Erza winks at her petrified friend and cackles when she grunts in disgust.

"Too much information… You didn't have to tell me, I'm probably gonna have nightmares after this" Poor Lucy buries her reddening face into a pillow, experimenting if drowning in soft cotton would make her disappear.

In conclusion, it doesn't. "You mean wet dreams"

"You're the worst!" Lucy chucks the pillow at Erza's face.

This is their usual day spent together with childish banters. This is not any different as the redhead continues to make Lucy blush, taking up the challenge of making the blonde's face redder than her hair.

* * *

"Right. Now, where were we?" Lucy flops back on her seat, taking a sip of her abandoned coffee but Sting doesn't look convinced, he saw what happened. Well, at least the part when she smacked her boyfriend with her shoes through the glass wall, along with the population inside the bar.

"Um are you sure you're alright?" He asks.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

He was about to not question about what happened but it feels wrong. "I mean, you're with another guy, ex if you will, and you have a boyfriend… Are you sure that's okay?"

"Sting, we've established a certain ground… Like what you said, this is just like two friends catching up" Sting is not so sure anymore, he feels that sinking feeling dragging his entire weight down but he doesn't say anything about it.

"… You're right"

"Don't mind Natsu, in fact, let's not talk about him. Come on, let's go" Lucy expected Sting to follow her but he remains folded on his seat with his brows scrunched together.

"Where are we going?"

"To places you've never seen in five years" She grins at him then and he shuffles on his feet and jogs beside her. As they exit the bar and walk by the sidewalk, he scrunches his brows back when they didn't make their way to his car but instead they continued walking elsewhere.

He doesn't question her and remains silent. Lucy can only take a quarter of silence until she suffocates around it.

"Are we just going to remain silent or are you going to tell me about your life, Sting Eucliffe?" She watches him scratch the back of his neck nervously, a nervous laugh following a short while after.

"Sorry" He mumbles. Lucy snorts-laughs at this and places a hand over his shoulder.

"What did London did to you? Why are you so… Apprehensive?" It was very unlike Sting to be so tense, Lucy wonders. He isn't that much different two weeks ago even.

"Nothing. You just make me nervous" She doesn't say anything about what he said, kept a straight face because she doesn't want him to see her curling in a corner. Sting sees this differently and turns his head away from her. Lucy thought she needn't to remind herself about him being her ex but right now, she chanted it like a prayer. Liking anything is dangerous.

"You're still so cheesy, you know that" He laughs softly as she followed a short while after. It was a good thing they could go this light hearted.

"I bet it works well with British ladies" When he glanced at her, he had hoped for any trace of sadness, anything that would just oppose all signs of moving on because Sting has been on the same ground five years ago. He still loved his ex.

"Not really" She looks at him funny, as if he had stated something offensive.

"What? Why not?!" There's really nothing surprising about it, really. As much as he tried dating as an excuse to force himself to move on, he rejected those ladies simply because they weren't Lucy. It just happens that his brother had asked him to take care of their family business a day before his date with a lovely girl named Yukino.

"You're a guy with so much to flaunt! You're smart! Can be a giant idiot sometimes, but you're pretty smart! Rich and handsome, facts… Kind… You're everything a woman could ask for!" Her hand gestures would have made him laugh if it weren't for the depressing thought of being every girl's dream but her own.

"Don't flatter me, Lucy. I'm still the same guy" He jokes around, burying the undertone depressing thoughts in the back of his mind.

"I know you are. You're just a bit more now" She smiles at him sweetly. There she goes again, Sting always wondered if she's aware of how she says and sees things differently, which is not entirely a bad thing.

"More what?" He pushes her, he just wants to know what she has to say. Her cute little gestures entice him, from the tuck of her hair behind her ear to the avoidance of her gaze. Lucy is still Lucy after all.

"You know… More of everything… You've become someone better, not a bad thing by the way" She gives him a wink before realizing that they reached their destination. He was about to say something else but she excitedly pulls him by the hand and rushes to the front of the entire area.

"Sting, welcome to Westown Fiore Pier! This is a special place because this is one of the largest ever built plus the ocean is just a pretty sight now that we can walk beside it… Also, you have to try the local's kebab here! It's amazing you're not even ready for it!" She rushes excitedly that he only managed to understand a fraction of what she said. He pretended he understood with a thumbs up as she pulls at him once again.

"See? It's delicious, isn't it?" Lucy's excitement and her expectation of him threw off the awfully sinister after taste of the kebab. Sting smiled through it all as he forced his body to swallow the entire thing. It wasn't exactly that bad, he tries telling himself over and over but his body rejected.

As he projectile vomited to the ocean, he could hear her cackling laughter in the background. "Oh man, Sting you still hate it huh? I never would have guessed but…" She continues laughing until tears prick the corner of her eyes.

"Okay, I'm done laughing… I'll make it up to you, come on" As he finishes the deed, she drags him for the third time today and he didn't mind at all.

* * *

 **Another late update as always but at least I managed a chapter. Sorry if this update is boring, I will admit. Not my best but bear with it as i'll do my best for the next chapter, i swear to you, the next chapter would amend for this...Stale chapter. But might as well let me know what you think, tell me if you agree with me or not. i honestly dont know if this is bad as you read it but please give me a review about it :)**

 **Pari forever ft** yeaah i always see Sting as a very evil person in fan fics and i think he deserves a different character approach :)) but yeah, i think it works as a guilt-eating way to choose him or not hahaha! im evil im so sorry... yeah? wait until the next chapter for between two neighbors ;) i have something in mind haha

 **zooeyandvincy** im very thankful that my stories gives you happiness :) i promise i will make more in the future ^_^ thank you for the review, as long it is, i am very thankful for your kind words and very much in awe as i read every sentence :) you make me very happy in return :) and as another thank you, i will do my best to update my other story next week if i can't publish it this week ;) also i read every review and appreciate every one of them, yours isn't ignored. you say thank you a lot tho, i dont exactly know what to say back but i guess you're welcome :) im just really glad and feel so much appreciated hihi love youu!

 **TopazDesiertoFleur** damnn hahaha that's a nice way to end a great story :) thanks! im so sorry for this chapter tho, i dont find it much appealing but i'll make it up to all of you for both my next updates hihi :))

 **Bugseey** aww im so sorry you have to go through a rollercoaster of emotions between natsu and sting hahahaa wait for more to feel more of this haha im kidding but yeah, stay tuned ;) i have something in mind for BTN and this story :) also! thank you for the compliments, i really appreciate it :) i will do my best to be even better 3

 **so see youu on the next update~! Just a question, A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION YOU SHOULD ANSWER THROUGH A REVIEW:**

 **What do you feel about reading about psychopaths? :)**

 **I'm just gonna leave you hanging with that question and i'll be waiting for your answers haha you'll find out soon enough why i asked haha**


	11. Chapter 11 (Rated M: Sexual Content)

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

Pool Action

 **Warning: This chapter is Rated M for some sexual content.**

Lucy had shown Sting the new parts of town after the short visit to the new pier. She showed him the museum that recently just opened, parts of the mall that weren't there before, a japanese restaurant for lunch and right now is the exact opposite. This must be each other's favorite part, Lucy had just brought Sting to the newest and exclusive bar in town. It recenty just opened a month ago, she says to the other blonde. Apparently, it just became so popular that the people inside are either models or artists. They were just lucky the guy guarding the door knew who Sting Eucliffe is. It was a test anyway, Lucy did not expect to enter but she figured they'll make use of his name. Ironically, he found it quite amusing as if he's still surprised a lot of people knew him.

"Honestly I've never been here before until now" She was impressed, he could tell by the tone of her voice. Sting isn't as surprised as her though, he has been into many exclusive bars, this one just became a generic look. But the happy and excited look in her eyes made him almost the same.

"Yeah I could tell" He chuckles. They both seat at where the drinks are. It was a good thing the entire place was dimly lit, not like the local bars that tried to dress up as alien probing.

"Yeah glad I didn't have to show my boobs just to enter" She jokes but this took an even amusing tone as the other blonde cocks his brow.

"Wait but did you? I mean... Have you ever?-"

"Well of course! I think at least every girl in Fiore showed her boobs just to enter"

"I never knew I'd learn something like that"

"Yeah? The more you know" She asks the bartender for shots to the both of them. At this point when she's distracted, Sting decides to give a good look at her. Lucy, in his eyes, has never been so beautiful. She sat cross-legged with her elbow resting on the counter, eyes shining from the light hovering above them. But not just that, the length of her long hair reached the arch of her see-through blouse. He actually didn't noticed until now, but she's wearing a black lace bra underneath. Then he feels it. The erotic tightening on his crotch area. _Fuck_. He mentally mutters.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Don't say you're professing your love for me, Sting Eucliffe" Ironic. She's hitting him on the right places. He hated it but he doesn't look like it. He grins at her, masking himself from the tightness in his pants and the sudden warmth of his face and takes the small shot glass, the least he could do is act like it's a joke.

"Here's to you, for being back" Lucy raises the shot glass, Sting does too and they take it at the same time. Bitterly groaning on the after taste.

"Yeah... For being back" He whispers, she barely heard. But the way he said it made her look at him. Sting looked dead serious, as if it meant _something else._ Lucy cannot afford that, so she takes another shot and asks for a few more.

Sting could tell she's trying to stall him. He doesn't say anything, he just drinks with her.

"So tell me how you met Natsu" It's not just a way to break the ice, he is just as curious. The guy seems head over heels for her and he finds it difficult to believe that Lucy couldn't be feeling the same way. She snorts at him lamely, the same way she usually does when she doesn't want to talk about something.

"Do you really wanna know?" Some part of him doesn't. Sting fears that the story is far greater to be a cliche chic flick. Lucy rubs at her temple while adjusting her skirt.

"Natsu is not really my boyfriend" Lucy says it so nonchalantly, it takes him off guard. The look on his face had almost thrown the other blonde to spit the alcohol on his face if it weren't for her self-control. But who could blame him? The girl he loves for almost more than two years now admitted that she has no relationship with that guy clinging at her at the pool bar. His heart frantically beats in his chest, he fears that she could hear it.

"So why did you-"

"Because I don't want you going after me... You drunk called me, Sting. I just don't want us to happen... We are off limits, remember?" Sting did not have the time to remember that he had called her, the hurt coming directly from Lucy's mouth was enough to silence him. Only for a while though, by taking shots. She watched him take one after another, she barely could keep up but she tried. There's no way, Sting is drowning himself alone.

"... I just don't want to make this messier than it already has. I'm sorry" God, even if his ex had broken his heart twice, he still looked at her the same way. The blue fixtures made her even more beautiful up to the point that he couldn't restrain himself seriously. Sting had caressed her face lovingly and she wasn't resisting him, he almost wondered. She just told him they can't be together.

Sting retracts his hand and takes two shots. Lucy does the same.

"I'm sorry, I'm just drunk..." He becomes hard on himself mentally. There is no way he's going to mess this up, he's not ruining what they have the second time.

"I understand... Nothing even happened, you didn't call me" But Sting wants her to remember, whatever he said to her during that call, whatever it was, he wanted her to know it's true. Alcohol along with her impailing words aren't helping at all but it didn't take long for the both of them to get drunk, slurry and hot from their bodies. It took nearly two good hours to be fluttering their eye lids open and close and being all giddy like it's their first frat party.

"Oh hey Sting! What's up, man? I knew it was you!" A buffy guy, nearly a head taller greeted Sting with a firm handshake. He fashions a black bandanna around his head and an odd shade of green for his long hair. Lucy wondered if he dyes his hair often.

"Orga! I can't believe you're still alive! I'm good... It's really good to be back" This is the time Orga notices the girl beside his friend. She's beautiful compared to those who presented themselves to the restaurant owner.

"And who's this lovely lady? I think you haven't introduced me" Lucy takes his words in utter embarrassment, not because he sounded lame but because the guy is one of Sting's friends. She's have to endure being paired with him and it'll take her a lot of self control to act sober.

"This is Lucy. She's a good friend back in college!"

"Nice to meet you, Lucy!" He shakes her hand first. "Book director?"

That's odd, even for her. But she doesn't say anything. She smiles and firmly shakes his hand back. "Close. EA actually"

"That's a nice touch! Say Lucy... Can I borrow Sting for a while?" She nodded her head. She doesn't mind but Sting looks appalled but was too late to stop his friend when he dragged him away from the bar. She could feel the alcohol running in her bloodstream. Her heart accelerated at a rate she couldn't understand and the only way she could do any good is to sway her hips from side to side through the beat of the bass. She lost control of her senses the moment she started giggling at herself and taking more shots. She thought it was rather fun but it could be more by unbuttoning a part of her blouse and going to the dance floor. She thought she was right.

Lucy felt her heart vibrate along the music, everyone around her felt what she felt. She swayed with her eyes closed, an empty drink in hand when some guy took her arms and placed them on his shoulders. She couldn't really make anything up aside from the guy being totally attractive anf freakishly tall.

"Why are you dancing alone?" He starts.

"I was waiting for someone to ask me that question" She giggled. She wraps both arms around the stranger's neck, swaying her hips from side to side. Dipping from side to side until he caught her drift. Her body ached to continue, she felt so alive with his grin at her ear and sweat on her skin. Lucy could go on like this forever.

The music felt amazing. The random guy, what she called in her head, placed both hands on her hips. She doesn't know where this was going but he grinds at her. It nearly took a second to do the same until one of them, Lucy decided that facing the opposite direction was a better idea, which in fact, it was. They had a certain pattern, they both followed. It can only take one moment until one of them thought that they reached a certain limit. Lucy felt it. The shiver down her spine and the odd sensation underneath her belly, she almost wanted the need to until she felt a different kind of shiver that goosebumps went underneath her skin.

And a new voice whispering in her ear. "You already left me?"

She felt hotter. Sweat, alcohol and dancing. Wearing clothes made her uncomfortable. She was about to turn around when the guy firmly placed his hands on her hips.

"You didn't even give me a chance to dance with you... How rude" She heard him grin, his nose touching just above her ear. His hips grinding just from behind her.

"Sting" Lucy's alerted. She's supposed to stop what she's doing, she's supposed to walk away right now but the warmth underneath her belly grew stronger. She grinds against him, creating a stronger friction that she heard him grunt her name.

* * *

Orga told him off. Sting blamed everything on his friend instead of blaming himself. Even though his head is ringing that what he's doing is wrong, that at some point, someone'll get hurt, he continues. Who could stop now if she responded back?

Lucy was against him. Hot, sticky and sweaty, he doesn't have the right sense to do the right thing. Instead he makes a trail of wet kisses on the side of her neck and despite the loud music, he heard her moan. She's mewing because of him. He forgot how smooth and soft her skin was until he felt it against his own tongue, he felt like he couldn't stop himself. Sting pulled back in surprise when Lucy started dipping lower, against his... He doesn't know if she noticed but he's rising. Blood pounding in his ears when she guides his hands back to her hips as she ran her fingers in his hair.

She drives him mad, she was all over him. She throws her head back every once in a while, her mess of hair tickling his neck and every time, he gets a little more frustrated. She's doing it on purpose too, he could tell. Sting groans and continues giving her sloppy trails of kisses down her shoulders. This is alarming. Both of them knew that but they needed this more. She tilts her head back for more access and he takes advantage of this by spinning her around and making her face him. He could smell the alcohol, sweat and her desire. All he needs to do now is to lean closer, just to close the distance between them.

Sting is usually collected but today, he has never been so nervous and frustrated at the same time. His hands are sweating and he could almost feel his heart pulsing on his feet. It was that loud. But when he leaned furthermore, she leans away.

"Sting I-I think... I think we should stop" He closed his eyes, mentally yelling at himself for being this careless and stupid. All breatheless, red and hot, Lucy is the first one to walk away from the subsiding tension. He could imagine worse of what she thinks of him now. Orga was stupid for giving him advice, he should know that by now, considering the guy had four horrible break-ups in one year. But he's more stupid for following.

They walked out of the bar and Lucy felt relieved for breathing fresh air. Who knew she took every inhale of it for granted. She still felt hot and slightly intoxicated but she got a hold of a few of her senses like they were about to happen until she cock blocked him. She didn't need to say anything but she could tell the other drunk is standing behind her.

"Lucy-" If he continues to say her name or another word, she's not so sure of having enough self control to not jump on him.

"Sting, take me home. I'm drunk" She slightly felt proud of herself that she sounded like she really wanted to leave instead of actually wanting Sting to take her home. That's just ridiculous. Yeah, she keeps on telling herself.

He didn't say anything else, thankfully for her. He fetched his car.

* * *

Lucy wondered why she gets attracted to awkward car drives, both blondes couldn't even look at the other. Sting focused on the road, she focused on the pitch black darkness outside from the window. Not one of them knew if they should speak about it. She tried her hardest to stay still.

"Lucy I-"

"No, Sting. This is completely understandable. We were just drunk, it was getting hot and we just went with it. Let's not even think about it" How can she say all those words? Her voice is even two notes higher, that's just weird. Lucy had no idea.

"Right" He muttered.

"..."

"..."

"... You're right. It's not like I wanted to kiss you and you wanted me to, right?" Somehow, something tells her that there's sarcasm in there. She narrows her eyes at him, he's glaring at the road for some odd reason.

"Yeah... I guess we're still not responsible adults" And she decided to end it with a slightly fake, slightly shaky laughter. She doesn't have any idea why she's nervous along with why her hands are clammy, she would have questioned further but Sting interrupted her thoughts.

"Lucy, is it so bad to ask about us?" He gives her a glance.

"Depends on the question"

"Okay. Is it bad to want you back?" The nervousness doubled. How could he even ask it so nonchalantly. She gapes at him like a fish and he looked at her expectantly. So, he was being serious. Lucy thinks of an answer. Honestly, to herself, she doesn't know but something tells her she just couldn't. But she couldn't tell him that as well.

"Yes. Sting, I'm your ex... We both know where it ends" She felt such a bitch after all, he was just so nice towards her. It's horrible to be breaking possibilities hastily but she couldn't just give it a go either. The look on his face is more obvious now that she looks at him. Sting is still hopeful. This guy is seriously toying with her brain.

"Look Sting-"

"Lucy don't feel sorry for me. That's the last thing I'd want from you. Let's just call this a night then" She sighs out of sadness. She doesn't want to lose the friendship though. Might be a fuck up being friends with you ex but it couldn't hurt to try, right? (God, if Lucy only knew the flash forward).

At least during the last silent minutes had calmed them down to the point of professionally or appropriately being distant towards each other. Sting, being the proper gentleman that Lucy had once had a thing for, opened the car door. When she stepped outside, two things happened at once. The heel of her stiletto snapped and he caught her. In this situation, when she's seeing all the blue in his eyes and feeling the prominent buff of his arms, she considered herself to still be morally drunk.

She cleared her throat and oh god she tried, to be graceful when standing up properly.

"Thank you... I-I think I'm still drunk... And-and also getting heavy, so I'm taking these off" Needless to say, she's a walking mess when she approached the apartment building. Sting, however, still followed her. Probably to make sure she got to her unit without falling down the stairs and breaking her neck in 17 different places.

Once they reached the door, she didn't know what else to do, she hugged him. It took a few seconds for him to hug back but when he did, it was probably the longest of hugs because he only lets go one arm before lingering for a few more seconds. It's not difficult to notice even when drunk. Lucy was about to slightly push him away but Sting whispers at her, his nose pressing against her ear.

"You were great. Thank you for the tour. I had fun" He lets go of her this time and it was her turn to be surprised and anxious and nervous. There's no telling what she's feeling but Lucy smiles warmly at him, convinced that they're fine.

"Let's go again next time, okay?"

* * *

Goddamn. Sting has had enough. Lucy is still in denial and he can't help himself any longer. Can't she see that he was holding back for so long? The fact that she genuinely wants them to stay the way they are makes him so angry. He takes a long stride so that his face is inches from her. She's not even moving away, to him, she also looks frantic.

"Sting, what are you-"

"Fuck that" He abandons those words quickly and pulls at her hair for a kiss. Of course, she struggles. At first she did, but she gives up almost instantly and they cave in. Lucy's lips are plump and soft just like he remembered. They were probably sloppy at this because they were still intoxicated, he felt his own conscience buzzing at him. She kisses back just as passionately and they stayed at the hallway a little longer but at some point, she fumbled for the door knob and he pushes her on the wall in her apartment.

His hands are everywhere. He feels her soft skin and he managed to put his hands on her thighs. She wraps one leg on his behind, before she knows it, both of them are wrapped around his waist. Lucy forgot how much of a good kisser Sting is, she's moaning in his mouth and he's groaning at hers. She felt him walking, lifting her with his hands on her hips.

Sting places her softly on her bed, she's rubbing against him and could only take a little until his erection presses against her damp underwear. He focuses on her neck instead to distract himself from his rising member, it's making it difficult when she's rubbing herself further. He forgot how much she enjoyed the pleasure just on the bottom of her ear. He sucks on the sensitive area and she moans slightly louder, it was music to his ears.

She immediately remove her hands lost in his hair and tugs his belt off, pulling his zipper hastily. When she pulls his boxers off, he oh so slowly lingers at her wet core. It drives her a little bit insane and somehow, when she caught his face he was smug and smirking at her.

He felt Lucy getting wetter, the more he rubbed and bit. He's throbbing and he's losing the ability to think.

"Sting... P-please" She mewed like a cat he grumbled on her throat. With one swift tug, both her skirt and underwear were on one ankle. She shivers against him when she realizes it only takes one push to be in contact with him. Lucy forgets how to think. There are no other thoughts in her brain other than wanting him. She spreads her legs a bit wider as a form of invitation and he breathes heavily at her. His blue eyes were a haze and she's a hot mess. They lock eyes for a second before without warning, he plunges into her. Lucy digs her nails in his shirt and calls out his name. He props himself with his elbows on either side of her small frame, she's so tight. She continues to moan loudly and he shuts her so with his tongue in her mouth.

He pounds deeply inside her, she's stiffling her screams and he's grunting with every move. They both move faster.

...

...

...

...

* * *

They couldn't recall how much time had passed but they became a hot, sticky, tangled mess on her bed. Both sleeping soundly caged in arms and legs. Both don't know of what might happen the next morning, but it's something Lucy would regret about.

* * *

 **I swear to you that this is a NaLu fanfic.** **Probably some of you are in a state of shock for just what happened, but I can assure you that they will have their moment hihi. But for now, enjoy this lemon chapter, even if it's not Natsu.**

 **Umm, this is actually my first time writing a lemon, so I'm a bit frantic of what it really is and I'd like to know your opinion about it. I mean, I could probably do better but again this is my first time. I hope it puts up with expectations. Hehe...**

 **Also, I've been gone for more than a month! I'm so sorry for that so here is a longer update. I mean, I'm surprised by how long this is to be honest. Hehehe. Anyway, I'll be doing a Between Two Neighbors update soon, I hope you give a review, like and a follow if you can :)**

 **All of them are appreciated and loved like always :)**

 **TopazDesiertoFleur** HAHAHA! To tell you a bit of something, I'm actually going to replace this story (after I finish it, of course) with a psychopath story, haha. I'm also sorry for putting you through confusion (not really, hahaha jk) especially in this chapter tho... what d'ya think? :D

 **Guest** I'm sorry I kept you waiting for so long ." I hope you are still here though. Here's an update :) Oh, and he will ;) soon... don't worry hihi


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fairy Tail

Pool Action

Lucy cracked one eye open to find herself blinded by sunlight, suffocated by limbs and a third degree hangover. She sat up, regretting the decision right after. But what she didn't expect is to find Sting sleeping soundly beside her, his arms still wrapped around her waist. She was about to scream but the headache was killing her slowly. When she looked under the covers, she's naked and reeked of sweat and sex. Her eyes shot up wider, the night coming at her like a broken record.

They had a few, maybe a lot of tequila shots. Sting talked to his friend for a while. She danced with someone. Then she danced with him. She gasped lightly when she remembered what happened next in vivid details. _Oh no..._ She thought.

Lucy removed his arms and wore a white shirt she found in her closet before tiptoeing out of her room. She thought she could fix this, acting like nothing happened but just as she stepped out of her room, she saw none other than Erza, eating a bowl of cereal in her living room. Maybe she doesn't know.

"Spill" _Well shit..._

That single word held so much demand, she can't possibly tell her what happened. She strides to the kitchen only for her best friend to follow her.

"You do realize that the walls aren't soundproof, right?" The redhead wiggles her brows while she could only cringe and groan at the same time. She couldn't possibly be serious, right?

"I could hear you guys and I'm pretty sure other people could hear you two from three doors out"

Lucy gives up, she sits on one of the stools, she felt like she's back in University. This is exactly what she's avoiding and she did the exact opposite. What doofus.

"This is the worst... Please tell me you weren't with Jellal last night" She rubbed her aching head but it nowhere helped in any way.

"Umm..."

"Great. Could this day get any worse?" Lucy is not taunting the universe but it decided that it could. And it will. For the time being, she drank her coffee as fast she could no matter how much it burnt her mouth because her friend continued teasing and pressing her buttons. It shouldn't affect her but knowing that the redhead could use this against her for a while, she needed to get out of her.

"Come on, Lucy... I'm sure you can share a few details. I mean I could give you tips you can use"

"This is ridiculous. Last night was a mistake. So please" Her friend doesn't get the idea though. She purses her lips and leans on the counter separating them.

"This feels like university all over again..." She knew exactly what Erza's talking about. This is exactly what happened during the previous years. Lucy's lying to herself if she says she doesn't feel bad about regretting last night.

"I know..." Her friend places a hand over her shoulder. When she looks up at her, she's not in any form teasing her.

"... Sting's a great guy. I just hope you give him a chance" The blonde knew she'd say those words. This is entirely her fault after all. Maybe she should. But at the same time she doesn't want to deal with any of this right now.

Sipping the last bit of her coffee, she settles the mug rather too forcefully.

"I'll think about it" Lucy's not just saying this to get out of the situation. She really will but for now, she needs to get out of her apartment.

"I'm going outside... I need to breathe" She doesn't take the time to wait for her friend's reply as she wears a pair of slippers and got the car keys from the coffee table. Erza wouldn't mind if she borrowed it for a while.

But just as she opened the door to leave, Lucy is met by yellow magnolias over her face. The perfectly wrapped flowers connects to an arm extended right at her. She looks up too see familiar pink hair and dark eyes. She didn't have enough time to react as the guy cracks a lazy grin.

"Good morning, Luce" She did not miss the way he scanned her up and down. The blonde immediately hugged herself, turning away from him.

"Where do you think you're looking at?! And wh-what are you doing here?" For her, it isn't too obvious why he's here. Natsu is rather dressed casually anyway but more importantly,

"How did you find out where I live anyway? That's just creepy" She crosses her arms over her chest and by now, it looked awkward that the pinkette is still extending his arm with the flowers.

"I have my ways and don't call it creepy. I told you before, didn't I?" She faces him. With a headache she's having, she couldn't form previous memories of whatever he did tell her.

"You forgot already? I told you I'd make it up to you, remember?" He smiles widely at her. The moment he did, she easily remembered. Somehow, his hand on her head made her chest race... Just a bit, she tells herself.

At this point, Lucy doesn't have any idea what to do. Sting is sleeping in her room, Erza is watching the scene from the couch and Natsu is giving her flowers. She doesn't know what to make of it, except to look back at her friend for help. They communicated through long distance eye contacts. Somehow, the blonde ended up sighing heavily before taking the flowers from the pinkette. She didn't miss the grin etched on his face when she takes them to the coffee table.

"W-what now?" She helplessly asked the redhead in a hushed whisper.

"Go on. I'll take care of Sting" That's not exactly what Lucy's worried about. She felt really bad right now. Everything that's happening puts a bitter taste in her mouth.

"It could be wrong but I'm just helping you back..."

She narrows her eyes at her. "What does that even mean?"

Erza could only giggle at her friend's obliviousness. "Just go"

She sighed again before going over to the open door. "Trust me" The redhead assures. She gives her a side glance and nervously smiled at her.

"W-what exactly do you have in mind?"

"First question, did you have breakfast?" Lucy shrugs her head.

"Let's go" Natsu takes hold of her hand and was ready to go but she remains rooted to the ground. Realizing one thing after another. First, he is casually dressed but at the same time compared to her, wearing a plain shirt with nothing underneath felt kind of underdressed. Second, she can't go outside looking like this. He looks back at her in confusion.

"Give me five minutes" She closes the door and goes back to her room, silently tiptoeing. The blonde exhales a long breathe of air she realized she has been holding when she sees Sting still sound asleep.

Lucy managed to dress herself decently during those five minutes. She decided with a plain white dress that stopped above her knees. She may not notice but the dress hugged her figure greatly, even showing a peak of her cleavage. It may not seem much of a big deal to her but when she approached Natsu, he couldn't decide what to do with his eyes along with his voice.

"You look great" He managed to squeak out. Lucy, on the other hand, eyed him for good measure for any sign of sarcasm. When she couldn't, she smiles at him widely.

"Thank you" Natsu could only cough out the heat from his ears before he motioned for her to walk first. Lucy takes this moment to tie her long hair into a bun, just as she side glances at him, she saw him staring at her from behind.

"Stop staring at my ass, Dragneel" She doesn't even need to look back to know that Natsu straightened his back and focused on looking pointedly ahead. That's exactly what he did after becoming a sputtering mess. Since when did he become like this anyway? He stops those thoughts when he realized he forgot something.

"By the way, we'll have to stop over in my house after breakfast"

"Why?" She stops walking then.

He only shrugs his shoulders. "I can't tell you anything other than it's essential for our date" Lucy finds herself becoming a sputtering mess then. Natsu grins before walking pass her. Her mind races at the thought that this is in fact a date. He's taking her out somewhere anyway and she agreed.

"Th-this isn't a date!" She clarifies rather childishly.

"If you say so Luce"

"But it isn't!"

"I believe you. It isn't" His words doesn't match the tone of his voice. Somewhere along those lines, Lucy knew there was sarcasm in there. But she could only match his pace once they were outside.

* * *

Natsu parked his car in front of a quiant looking bistro. Lucy has never seen the place in her entire life here in Fiore. The entire place is a two story building of glass and white walls. She continues gaping at it even until the pinkette offered her his arm which she mindlessly took. The interior is beautiful, according to her anyway. There were those fancy looking sets of tables and chairs but at the same time, the simple wooden trimmings and design made everything look simple and warm.

"Good morning Natsu!" A tall man greeted from the counter top. He is dressed in a white shirt paired with some slacks. No one could miss the bushy mustache decorated above his lips.

"Oh you have a date! A fine young lady even" Lucy can't help but blush at the words.

"According to her this is not a date" She easily got hold of her senses and smacks him by the arm playfully. He grins before he told the man his order, in this place where Lucy isn't familiar with, she lets him decide for her.

Natsu then took her upstairs where half the floor is a balcony overlooking the river stream beside them. He pulls the chair for her and he didn't miss the face she made after. He can't help but chuckle at her once he takes his own seat.

"I may be a playboy but I'm still a gentleman"

She rests her face in one hand, trying her best not to smile. "I noticed"

For some unreadable reason, both of them were smiling. Lucy thought of what her redhead friend told her. Maybe this is the fresh air she needed. Meanwhile Natsu thought of where this is going. At least, showing in her doorstep without a warning did something. She has always been a bit aloof towards him.

"Excuse me, I need to use the toilet"

"Wouldn't be surprised if you left" She adds. It only causes him to silently make his way there. Of course Lucy wouldn't be easy but that doesn't mean he's gonna give up. He didn't miss her little yell of "I was kidding" when he pushed the door open to the interior. He can't help but cheekily smile.

While away, the blonde pulls her phone from her purse and sees that Erza had messaged her thrice. All of them concerning the events regarding Sting. She gulps as she read the unreplied messages.

 _"Sting woke up and was looking for you._  
 _I told him you had an emergency at work"_ 9:46 a.m.

 _"I talked to him about giving you time to think._  
 _He said he'll wait for you here. Lucy! I can't just leave him in your apartment! What do I do?"_ 9:59 a.m.

 _"LUCY! I told him to leave you alone. He said he still loves you... Lucy, I hope you tell him something before this goes out of hand. He also left shortly. Thank god"_ 10:10 a.m.

She sighs, pondering at this a bit longer. It was just sex. Just like the first time they did it back in university. She felt horrible for thinking that it all came down to just sex with no strings attached while he thought differently. He always thought differently in their relationship, which is why she never really took it seriously as he did. That's the slight difference between them. She may be the bad guy, a hypocrite towards Natsu about his flirty lifestyle. She can't help but swallow her words back. Guilt started to bubble in her system when Natsu came back and claimed his seat. She can't help but get eaten by questions if the pinkette finds out. She's not any different. She felt disgusted at herself for even giving in, in the first place. Why does she care if he finds out? She does and it comes down to nothing sensible as she thinks of reasons.

"You okay?" He snaps her back to the present and he looked so worried. She felt sick.

She could tell him now and get it over with. But she couldn't ruin this. Not now. Lucy immediately smiles back. "I'm fine... Just a bit hungry"

"It'll be here soon, don't worry"

"Oh, and I got you this" He gives her a medium-sized, white box decorated in a blue ribbon. She opens the box to find out that inside are assortment of chocolates. It's a rather sweet gesture coming from Natsu. She feels her chest rise once she looks back at him. He's shyly scratching the back of his head.

"How did you even find the time to buy this?"

"It's in my car, it came with the flowers. I suppose you can say that's an apology gift for leaving you..." All worries and guilt pushes away in the back of her mind almost instantly when he risked a glance at her. Lucy figured he isn't used to what he's doing right now, considering that he did things differently then. Somehow, she finds this oddly adorable.

"Alright. I'll give you this chance. One chance. But screw up then not all the chocolates and magnolias in the world can save you. Got it?" She watches his reaction transition from a smile to an ear splitting grin.

"Okay. Luce before we eat I want to make a promise" He sounded so serious. He's gazing at her with such intense eyes.

"A... Promise?" The words left her mouth as if they were foreign to her.

"Yeah. A vow. An oath. A testament if you will. A-"

"I get it"

"I promise you, starting right now, in this fancy little table right here that I'm never screwing up again" Natsu even emphasized the table with his hand. He looked so determined. She could just tell that he is nowhere near dicking with her. At the same time, she couldn't help but giggle at him.

"You're really persistent, aren't you?"

"I'd like to take my pride in that. Yes I am" She gives him a white smile. Just in time, their food is being served. In some way, they actually talked without annoying the other. Well without Lucy being annoyed up to the point she'd walk away. There are snarky remarks here and there but they did learn a thing or two from each other.

So Natsu happens to be the engineer behind the building she works at. It's amazing how coincidental that is, considering that both of them are alumni from Fairy Tail University. It's still a wonder to the both of them that they never seen each other, not even once. When Natsu did heard of the best girl who can play pool, it did sound familiar. He only realized then that there was a match between Lucy and his ex-girlfriend when she told the story of her last match to have the most number of competitions won.

"So you're telling me that Lisanna Strauss used to be your girlfriend?" The disbelief in her voice was uncanny and Natsu couldn't find his voice to answer. He nods his head.

Shortly after, Lucy is in a fit of giggles. It didn't stop much later, there were actual tears threatening to stream down her face.

"This is so weird. I don't understand it at all"

"Maybe this is fate bringing us together" Then he winks at her. This, nowhere near affected Lucy. She seemed unamused.

"You're still on thin ice" She warns and he shortly apologized.

"Well I think we better get going" They both leave the bistro full and all smiles. Natsu hands more than enough tip to the guy who served them earlier, this got Lucy raising a brow before they got to his car. The drive was rather comfortable, compared to the times she once sat on the passenger seat. For once, she actually felt that the guy beside her is human. He is not a sword wielding machine meant to flirt with anything with legs. It doesn't make sense but knowing Natsu made her realize a bunch of things.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Eyes still focused on the road, Lucy slightly jumped on her seat. She was? She didn't realize.

"I wasn't. I was just thinking..."

"About what?" She freezes on the spot. No, she can't tell him what's on her mind. That would be embarrassing but at the same time, why does she care?

"I-I was just wondering... If you w-weren't such a flirt when we first met, it would have been different" She coughs out the rest in sheer embarrassment. The blonde didn't dare to glance on her left, she feels him staring for a while before returning his eyes on the road. She hears him chuckling.

"Don't worry Luce. I'm making my way there"

* * *

"Luce make yourself at home, I'm just gonna get some stuff" Natsu strides away from the living room while she finds herself looking at the amount of photos in frames stacked in one wall. There are several of Natsu as a child actually, she cant help but slightly giggle at each of them because he was ridiculous. He was biting the ear of his dad, nibbling to be exact. He was flying a kite.

"Lu-chan?" She turned around to see his cute little sister running towards her. The dark-haired girl hugged the taller adult by the waist, somehow she was crying. Lucy feels her chest swell with warmth. Did Wendy missed her this much? She stoops on her knees to level her.

"Hello Wendy. How are you?"

"Lu-chan!" She wailed. As much as Wendy finds comfort in Lucy, the blonde panics on what to do. She barely stroke the top of her head but that's what she did.

"W-why did you s-stop babysitting me? D-d-did I do something wrong? Do you h-hate me?" Her words are just ridiculous. Lucy slightly pulls away to look at Wendy, wiping her tear-stained cheeks with her thumbs.

"What are you talking about? I don't hate you. I can never hate you. You didn't do anything" In fact, it is her fault.

"I'm so sorry I didn't say anything. I was only gonna babysit you for a week..." Considering the length of time that passed until this day, Wendy must have been waiting for her. Her vision blurs when that thought crosses her mind. She hugs her tighter.

"I understand...-I-I'm just glad you came here...-Lu-chan, promise me one thing" She sputters in between sniffs before she holds out her little pinky.

"Promise me you'll visit often" Lucy didn't take a second to think. She wraps her own pinky with hers.

"I promise" The end their little reunion with one tight hug before Wendy runs off to kiss her own brother. Lucy finally notices him leaning his side against a wall behind them. He stoops to level his sister to smooch her cheek.

"I'll talk to you soon, Lu-chan" She runs off, leaving the two of them alone. Somehow, Lucy finds herself embarrassed. She scratches the back of her neck nervously.

"How long have you been standing there?" He shrugs his shoulders.

"Long enough to see you making a promise with my sister" She freezes for whatever time now, she didn't even notice Natsu walking up to her until he pulls on her wrist.

"You better keep that promise. Then we'll always see each other" He smiles. Lucy could only wonder by home off character the playboy is being.

* * *

 **Hello guys! I am proud with my work here, what do you think of this chapter? Natsu may be kind of, a little bit-OOC. My apologies! Yeah, he is, isn't he? I'm working on something for this story, it's going to be fun! Anyway, to those reading Between Two Neighbors, I'm wrapping the story in 5 chapters or so. So stay tuned ;)) I'm slightly teary-eyed by the fact that my first ever fan fic is ending, it's like I'm sending my child to university :((**

 **Anyway, enough with my drama. BTN update will come up shortly, I just need my internet connection to not suck...**

yeaaaah! It is! I'm shocked as well that I wrote a lemon... Anyway, I hope you enjoy this update :)

 **Guest** don't worry... More will come for this story, you'll be cured :)

 **nightbeforedawn** I can only tell you that a lot will happen hihi

 **TopazDesiertoFleur** hahaha don't worry the last bit is just about them sleeping and the day after being a regret, like you guessed! Anyway, you'll find out soon enough hhihi

 **Nana** honestly, I was a bit frantic to add the lemon part, especially it's not NaLu. But I assure you something good will happen for them :)


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fairy Tail.

 **Pool Action**

They continued their date. They drove around town to get away from the city, which meant that they got through the main highway until their surroundings shifted from tall skyscrapers to evergreen trees and mountains. Lucy was obviously overwhelmed by all of it, her brown eyes big and wide as she gave all her attention to the windmills lining up on a slope of a mountain. Natsu on the other hand caught her, he always catches her when she's like this, it was more the reason why he continues liking her.

"You've never been outside the city?" He glanced at the right moment where she blushes from embarrassment.

"Well it's not like I had the time..." She answers and he doesn't know if he should feel bad or happy about it, considering that this could be her first _with him_ , she might hate this.

He snorts. "There's always time. You just happen to spend it wrong"

"And how should I spend my time then?" She asks cocking one eye brow and crossing her arms.

"Obviously by going out with me more" Again, if Natsu wasn't such an observant bastard he wouldn't have caught how her blush turned darker as she playfully smacked his arm with a bit more force.

"Shut it. Where are we exactly going anyway?" She stirs the subject away as he laughs it off.

"It's not going to be a surprise if I tell you" He says with a cheeky wink, it doesn't nearly affect Lucy. In fact, she rolls her eyes at him.

"Well fine then. At least give me a hint"

He thinks of this. "Somewhere no one knows but me" He finds it special while she finds it the opposite. She backs away from her seat, one hand grasping the door handle.

"Whatever you're thinking, that's not my plan Lucy"

"But where the heck are you taking me?"

"Just hold on, we're almost there"

She gives her attention back to her surroundings, he had taken them to a narrow dirt path with the tall trees towering around them. The sunlight passing through the spaces made it easier for her to calm down. She is appreciating nature for the first time.

True to his words, they arrived earlier than usual and she has never been this confused in her life as they went to a complete stop in the middle of the rain forest. He opens her door like a gentleman he claims to be as he got to the back to get the things they apparently needed.

"Umm you took me to an isolated forest?" Is another wording for "That's it?"

He grins at her. "No. We have to walk to get there"

"Take my hand" He offers which she eyed curiously at first before looking back at him with accusation.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because the path we're taking is slippery. Just trust me, okay?" It didn't take long to grab hold of his hand. Surprising her, she takes note of the fact of how huge his hand is compared to hers and for some odd reason, his hand is comfortingly warm.

She pins her eyes on the back of his head. He is indeed very tall, a head taller than she is. For the time being, Lucy had made it her mission to _observe_ him. He has a long neck that leads her to his broad shoulders and built arms. He obviously works out, she can tell. Then there was his broad back, his shirt ending where a part of his underwear is showing. Even his jeans hung low against his hips despite wearing a belt, it's not like she minds. His ass isn't difficult to notice anyway.

"We're here"

"What?" She hadn't noticed until he drew the leaves of some plant to the side to let her go first.

Lucy had never seen something so beautiful. Well not up close. He had taken her to an isolated lake, she could literally see the fresh water sparkling underneath the sun. Since it was isolated, the forest surrounded them. But what caught her attention the most is the small island at the center of the lake, a weeping mellow tree standing out from the rest.

"I-I can't... This is just... It's so beautiful"

"Wait until we get to the center" He tugs at her hand to follow and she was still in awe at where she is. She hadn't realized just yet that Natsu had pulled her to a small wooden boat to get there, not until she clutches the closest thing beside her for dear life which is apparently his arm as he rows their way to get there.

"Relax. There's nothing that could kill you underneath"

"And how do you know that?"

"I've been here so many times before"

"But that doesn't justify anything!"

"Oh stop being so smart" On the middle of the lake, he finally notices how she's hugging his arm and he secretly liked it. Not that she wouldn't figure out but he decided to make things more interesting. He starts shifting his weight to tilt the boat and as much as her obnoxious screaming made his ears bleed, she clung unto him closer.

"Oh no, Lucy we're gonna fall" He acts as he continues tilting the boat left and right. He watched as she sat on his lap and placed her head close to his chest. And he can only take as much as he rows back.

"I was just playing with you" She angrily smacks his arm for the second time but she remains to where she is, muttering a string of curses at him with flustered cheeks.

"Ugh you're so cute" He says just as he wraps his arms around her. She feels so small around him but that's what makes it better. How her head is perfectly tucked just below his neck.

"Let go of me!" It was muffled. Basically because she is clashed against his chest.

"Not a chance..."

"Why you-" He pulls slightly away to look at her. She's glaring at him deadly which doesn't affect him the slightest as he places his head on her shoulder.

"You still look cute even when you're angry... Stop that"

"I'm not trying to be anything! Let go of me, damn it!" He wouldn't let go of her but then again, she always finds her way. She sunk her teeth deep into his neck until his grip loosened. She smacks his arm again and finally, he's back to rowing with one hand touching his neck.

It was all worth it. Besides, he could tease her about it.

"I didn't know you were into that stuff. How kinky of you" He muses which only made her worse as she puffs her cheeks and stomps her foot. It wasn't helping either that he finds it rather adorable than before.

"Okay. We're finally here" He announces as he pushes the small boat on land. He picks up the small basket in one hand, the other leading the blonde off the boat.

He took her to the spot underneath the brilliant tree, the shade shielding them from the hot blazing son. He places a blanket over grass, she sees the _N.D._ embroided at the corner and rushes back to familiarity where she fell asleep on the couch with it on top of her. It's not so long ago anyway.

He slumps his back against the trunk of the tree, sighing a breathe of relief once he settled. To her, it was difficult to believe that Natsu could be like this. It's like a whole new different person. He looks so carefree and happy at the moment, she's not sure if she can learn to get used to him.

She stiffens when he cracks on eye open, looking at her with a small frown on his face.

"Why are you all the way there? Come here" He pats the space beside him.

She hadn't realized she was stupidly looking at him then. She scoots on the space he gave her, knees folding on one side as she lets her eyes wander to the beauty of nature around them.

"How did you find this place?"

With his eyes still closed, he shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. I guess I was just a curious teenager back then"

"It's really something..."

They both liked the silence. But Natsu loved it more, he was about to slip out of consciousness but the girl beside him prevented him from doing so. Not that he minded, he always thought she kept things interesting with her smart mouth and sarcastic attitude. He's just probably into that sort of thing.

"So..." She starts.

"So..." He says, cracking both his eyes open, gazing at her.

"How many girls have you brought here?"

Natsu kept his gaze only to her, his lips curling into a small smile as he continued looking at her. When he did not answer, she turned her head to face him with her bright brown eyes looking him over. He wants to see her face when he tells her,

"None. Only you" He catches her gradually getting redder, along with the way she sharply inhaled.

"That's some bullshit" She defenses, breaking her eyes away from him and back to the lake.

"If you don't believe me, ask every girl I ever dated or something"

"Interesting. How many girls have you dated or put into bed?"

"Is that some trick question? Also you're making it seem like I'm a creepy stalker"

"Just answer the question" She says impatiently.

"I honestly don't know. 20... 30. I don't know"

"And I'm the first girl you brought here?" She's making it sound like an obvious lie but he's not going give her the satisfaction. She is entirely wrong after all.

He just nods his head.

"And what makes me any different? I'm just on a date with you"

He gazes at her and it's like she feels him staring, she looks back at him.

"I don't know. You just are... Maybe because you're just ridiculously beautiful, you're so out of my league. Maybe because you kicked my ass in pool twice now. Or because you cooked for me once. Or you asked for my help to fix the air conditioner... Maybe all" His voice is low and gruff, they haven't avoided each other's gazes then.

Lucy may not have noticed but the distance between them is getting shorter. At some point she had closed her eyes and he managed to place his warm hand on her face, bringing them closer.

But then again they were going too slow as her stomach rambled, interrupting the both of them just as their noses were about to touch. "I'm hungry" She says.

"Can't you be hungry later?" He pleads, neither of them pulling away.

"No" She smiles before going over to the basket to find some food.

* * *

Just about finishing her tuna sandwich, she read the time to be 3:00 PM on her phone. She bolts upright to realize she is needed in her office by five for a general assembly. It would be acceptable to skip the event only if she isn't one of the speakers. She shoves the rest of her sandwich in her mouth with great difficulty but she did it anyway. Natsu was impressed to say the least. She stood up from her position and dusted the bread crumbs from her skirt.

"I have to go. There's an emergency in the office"

He frowns at her, he was just about to pull his fourth sandwich. "Right now?"

"Yes right now! I'm needed in the office!"

"That sounds boring..."

"Natsu come on! Get up, I seriously need to go"

He rolls his eyes before taking a bite of his own and finally standing up.

* * *

Even before halting the car to a completely stop, Lucy had managed to exit the car.

"Don't I get a goodbye kiss?" He asks just as he parks the car in front of the building she works at. He gazes at it, he does remember working for the blueprint. It took him three revisions for his design to be approved by the whole team. The memory made him cringe.

"Nice try... I'll be going now. Thank you for taking me though" She waves softly before roughly shuffling inside. He grins at her before climbing back inside the car.

"Oh wait, I forgot something" He looks up just in time to meet Lucy leaning towards him.

She kisses his cheek firmly before lightly slapping his face jokingly. His eyes followed the way she slightly turned around with a smile and a wave before finally running inside. Natsu will not admit that he stayed there for more than five minutes with new hope of Lucy appearing again and giving him another kiss.

But that's what he did before grinning like a doof as he drove away from the building, concluding their date as a complete success.

* * *

 **Hello guys! Almost three weeks since I updated but I did update BTN Chapter 35 yesterday :) So if you haven't seen it, it's out now :) Also, that story is about to end, sadly and finally it is :) and I am proud of my first ever story and the amount of support it got :) This story will be shorter than BTN so yeah.**

 **nightbeforedawn** it'll happen soon so stay tuned ;)

 **TopazDesiertoFleur** i'm sure you liked this one then :)) well i hope you did but yeah, again thank you for your constant support! really appreciate all of it :)

 **The Black Fairy of Fairy Tail** of course there is :) i just update really late and i apologize for that.

 **All reviews, follows and favorites and gladly appreciated! Thank you so much!**

 **Byee!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys! How are you? Good? Great! I always take too long to update and I've said it before and I'll say it again... I'm so sorry :(( And OMG THANK YOU FOR THE 102 FAVORITES! I appreciate every one of you! Sorry if you wait too long for these updates, I'm so sorry :((**

 **All reviews, faves and follows are appreciated!**

 **Guest** I'm so sorry that my updates are painful... They take so long I know :( I'm so sorry. But I hope you stick with me! Okay? :)

 **Pari forever ft** yeah I want to make thing fluffy after a mature content :)) but expect new characters soon! ;)

 **Nina** Thank you for checking up every day ! At the same time I'm so sorry for the long wait :((

 **I kept my message short because I don't want to keep you all waiting any longer :( I love you all so much!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

Pool Action

Lucy managed to be on the same elevator as her best friend Erza. The redhead handed her the transcripts she had to work for but also not missing the cheeky grin on her face. She didn't want to notice but it was just stupid, she rolled her eyes and gave her a look. Something that asked "What?" but at the same time she didn't want to know. Of course her co-worker wants to torture the living devil out of her.

Erza nudged her by the side, wanting nothing but to tease her blonde friend.

"You look like you had fun" And there's no denying the fact. Eventually, she was smiling like an idiot.

"I did" Erza saw it too. The crinkle in her eyes along with the sound of her voice.

She cleared her throat, more seriously this time. "I did"

The redhead smiled at her like a proud mother. "That's good"

"Where did he take you?"

The elevator dinged open as both of them stepped out at the same time.

"Somewhere really nice. I never really thought that he's capable of doing something like that"

"Why? Did he take you to his room of pleasure?" Of course her friend would ask something like that after a decent question. She should have seen it coming. Like always, she rolls her eyes again.

"Erza don't be ridiculous. He just took me by the lake... Like I said it's really nice"

"Well that is unexpected"

"Yeah" They walked to a narrow hallway in silence and Lucy would like to keep it that way until she reaches her office but unfortunately, Erza can't help herself.

"I heard sex on the beach or any water form is awesome"

She face palms this time. "You're unbelievable... Where did you heard it from and what have you been doing with Jellal?"

It was supposed to be a rhetorical question. Then again, Erza is just that friend who likes to make others uncomfortable. "Experience... And some shower sex"

"Look we just hung out and nothing else happened" Lucy did not even notice but she opened the door to her office while still talking to the redhead.

"I had fun and I'd like to keep it that way. Thank you very muc-Sir Leo, g-good morning" She unexpectedly sees Leo sitting in her office casually.

Lucy turned to her friend with a glare while Erza only signed that the author is hot as if she's not having enough sex already before leaving with a wink. How typical of her, she thought. The blonde closes the door of her office and walks up to her desk, trying hard to look professional just because he's wearing a smart and sleek suit.

The author on the other hand stood up from his seat, one arm already extending for her to shake. "Good morning to you too, princess"

Weirded out by the name, she took his hand for a strong handshake but instead, he turns her palm over and softly presses his lips against it. "Umm... Right. So about the book-"

"I came here to personally meet one of the finest editors here in Fiore and they took me to your office. Hence why I'm here"

"... So you're not here for your book?" She can't wrap her finger around it but there's something off about the guy. She narrows her eyes at him as he leans on her desk, his face a few inches from hers.

"What if I isn't?" His breathe smelled like mint, not that she's complaining but she swivels her chair to the desktop on her right, trying to look like she's busy with something.

"Sir I have a lot of things to do but if you want your transcripts to be reviewed, I can leave it with Erza by Thursday" She said without looking up at him.

"That simply won't do. You're not the only busy person in the world, Lucy. I have a schedule to follow"

She sighs heavily. A few co-workers did warn her about Leo. He is extremely picky and difficult to work with but at the end of the day, you'll know the answer why he's famous and successful. But then she is not the right person to have the right patience.

"I can ask someone else to review your transcripts"

"No. Unless you deliver them to me directly to my house by Wednesday" She knows she can't. Also she didn't want to. Wednesday has to be the busiest day she has.

"Sir as much as I would love to," She really doesn't. "But my hands are full"

The author blankly stared at her for a long time. She wonders how long he'll stay, she can't get her work done when a guy is being difficult to work with.

"I'll triple pay you" He says.

She almost fell on her seat, wondering if she heard him right. She turned to him to see his knowing smirk, it's pretty arrogant but at the same time, she needed the money. Thrice her wage can cover months of bills but more importantly, she can help with Erza's mother. This is an opportunity she can't pass. Leo is a total flirt but it's not like she has been around normal guys lately. When she thinks about it, she's just going to deliver the reviewed documents to his house.

"Alright"

The smirk on his face hadn't left. He nodded his head once and slid a calling card on her desk. "That's my address. Present this to the reception when you're there"

The card looked expensive, intricate lettering and design. She doesn't know much about that but she could tell it's not just some business card.

"I'll see you on Wednesday, princess" He says with a wink as he finally, thank god, finally left her office.

Lucy leaned on her seat as she sighs deeply. She'll despise Wednesday but at least she'll get paid more. Her phone suddenly rang, interrupting her from stressing out. She didn't even looked at the screen, she just didn't care.

"Hello?"

"Lucy hey" It's Sting.

Well, she shouldn't have. She sat on her seat properly, already feeling her stress rising even more. "Sting uh... What is it?"

"I need to talk to you" She knows him enough to know where this was going.

"Now is not really the right time... I have work" She's not lying about that but then again, she's playing crosswords on her computer right now.

"But I have to tell you something... What happened between us... It-it-it's not just sex, Lucy"

She's not going to get away with this. Here she thought she could work in peace and wait for the week to end but he's making it difficult for her. It's not really the right time to do any of this. "Sting... I-I can't say the same. It's-it's a one night stand. That's it"

"But-"

"No... Let me be clear, I can't tell you how sorry I am for that night. But I really am"

She swallows the lump forming in her throat. "I have to go" She ends the call, felt her throat close around her voice.

Lucy felt horrible. She felt bad for Sting but felt worst about herself. She can't believe she broke the guy's heart twice and it's not just saying that she doesn't like him that way but also she regretted ever meeting him again. This is exactly what she was trying to avoid yet she fell into a trap. It has been a while since she cried but right now, she can't hold herself together. She realized how horrible of a person she is, how hypocritical of her even. The thought of Natsu and what she told him before suddenly played back like a broken record but instead, it was the opposite.

Just like a best friend should, Erza approached her office without the need to knock. Suddenly, she was enveloped into the comfort of the redhead. She didn't want to think about boys, not now.

* * *

Natsu stayed all day in the house, not because he has nothing else better to do in the site but because he felt that he deserved a break. Maybe a day or two. He isn't going to lie to himself that he knew, consciously that he was about to kiss Lucy. He knew and she knew it too. The thought itself made it impossible for him to concentrate on the cartoon show his little sister is watching.

"Natsu-nee when is Lucy going to visit?"

He felt himself still smiling that they were talking about the person who has been in his mind all day. "I don't know. When do you want her to visit?"

He watched his sister cutely think, one finger on her lips. "How about this weekend? She can attend my recital!"

And that was a perfect excuse to get her to go, the pinkette grinned like an idiot before pulling his phone from his pocket. As he pressed the contacts and skimmed through the list, he had only realized he never had her number in the first place.

Way for playing it smooth.

"I'll leave her a message online" He says as he opened his messenger and eventually found out that Lucy is indeed online, presented by the green circle beside her name.

To: Lucy Heartfilia

 _Heyo Luce! My sister was wondering if you can come over this weekend..._

Sent 2:03 P.M.

Despite seeing that she hasn't opened his message, he waited and waited.

Until... Lucy is typing...

He sat properly on the couch as if preparing himself from what she's about to say. It's weird that he started breaking into a fit of cold sweat and erratic breathing, it's like the air grew suddenly thick or maybe he was just overreacting but nonetheless, he felt somehow excited.

 _I don't know_

 _I can't talk right now. I'm busy_

"Huh" He mutters as he stares at her message before eyeing his little sister busily watching the show. That simply won't do, he thought. He settled with a disappointed look as he picked up his keys and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Wendy looks up at him.

He ruffles at her hair and smiles widely. "Just delivering your message to her"

* * *

Erza really knows what to say when it comes to Lucy being in a very gloomy mood. After lunch, she found herself in the middle of her work with complete focus. She had already forgotten about what happened and was just about to send a mail to an author when she received a message from someone.

She was notified that Natsu had sent her a message two minutes ago and she couldn't roll her eyes to the back of her head any longer. She just forgot about the incident and now Natsu is adding up to the list.

From: Natsu Dragneel

 _Heyo Luce! My sister was wondering if you can come over this weekend..._

She isn't the Executive Assistant for nothing. Lucy knew he's using his sister to cover up whatever he has in mind. Well not that she couldn't go, she loves the little kid but Natsu is a whole new different story. She hates that she can't think of what he's planning. So far, the known playboy has been kind and fun to be around it. It's not going to be bad to hang out again.

Right?

She carefully types, _I'd love to... As long as your sister is really part of it_

But to her it didn't sound right. A few re-reads later, she decided with erasing it. Just because they went out once doesn't mean a thing. Well that's what she keeps on telling herself as she remembers the vivid image of the guy almost kissing her.

That's right! Lucy slightly jumped on her sit. What would have happened if there weren't any interruptions? It's not a difficult guess but would it make her like the rest of them if she actually, just actually liked him even by just the tiniest bit? What more does it say about her when she just slept with Sting and kind of, sort of in whatever form, going out with Natsu?

She has no idea but it didn't feel right. Liking him a little, even if just a little, didn't feel right.

The blonde sighs heavily before typing a new message.

* * *

It took longer than he thought to arrive. The traffic took forever but as soon as he found himself a space to park his car, he was at the reception by the second. Natsu is difficult not to notice, it was painful for half of the population in the lobby but it was worst for the reception lady dealing with him.

It's weird that he doesn't feel the same having the amount of attention. Right now, he felt quite uneasy. They were basically eye fucking him, even the reception lady in front of him as he looked around the huge interior to focus on instead.

"Um where is Lucy Heartfilia's office located?"

He caught the bitter reaction he got when he mentioned her name. It took half of his willpower to prevent himself from yelling at her. But he watched as she pressed a button on the line.

" _A-anri? Why are you calling me from the-_ "

The reception lady apparently named Anri rudely cuts her off. "A guy is looking for you... Again"

" _I-is it Sir Leo again?_ " Who is he? Natsu thought.

She eyes back at him. "Name?"

"Natsu Dragneel"

"No. A guy named Natsu Dragneel is looking for you"

There was some slight shuffling on the other line before she spoke again.

" _W-why is he here? Ugh you know what just send him in please..._ "

Then the line ends. "Floor thirty five. East wing" She says with a tight lipped smile.

When he gets there, after a few questions from a few office people and a slight begging from Erza he finally opened the door to her office. Surprisingly, Natsu found her in a way he found her before.

As much as possible, he closed the door quietly. Lucy was asleep, propped on her seat with her feet on her desk. Her glasses loosely almost falling on her face and transcripts balanced on her lap. He remembers the time the same girl he found playing pool along with the same girl who was really mad at him before.

But looking at her now, she's different. She's peaceful. All her defenses are broken as he approached her closely. She has limited herself to a fragile and delicate girl, he was very careful not to wake her.

He has no idea, no clue but he felt different as well. He knows the answer, he's not some innocent little shit but it is scary. The fact that he accepts it terrifies him more.

Natsu likes her. He likes her so much his chest hurts. He likes her. That's it.

He stoops on his knees to level her before slowly removing the glasses on her face. To him, it felt like he was uncovering something big. Not that he didn't know that Lucy is beautiful already but he finds himself admiring her up close. Her dark lashes. Natural pink blush. Plump lips.

He wasn't like this but goddamn this girl affects him a lot and she doesn't even know it. She's asleep and he feels her warmth surrounding him. _Damn you Lucy... Why are you doing this to me?_ It was more to himself than to her.

Suddenly, he sees chocolate brown. Wide and clear. And so beautiful.

"Natsu?" Her voice is slurred and still very delicate.

He decided what he wanted then and there. He wants her more than body and soul. More than what he used to think. He wants her the same way he wants to wake up to hearing the sound of her voice. It's a weird statement but he holds himself off a bit longer.

The flustered pinkette stood up, seeming like he wasn't looking at her in an endearing kind of way. "Uh h-hey..." And now he's stuttering?!

"Hello to you too" She starts with a suspicious glance. "What are you doing here? You could have at least knocked!"

Well if he was going to be honest, he was too busy being a hopeless romantic. But he will never tell her that. Instead he sits on the chair in front of her.

"So... What brings you here?"

"My sister isn't taking no for an answer. So she asked me to tell you" Total lie.

And Lucy isn't buying any of it. "Did she now?"

"She did... She wants you to attend her recital"

She would love to. But there were just too much complication for her. "I don't think I can-"

"Are you breaking my little sister's promise?" He cutely pouted. She's gonna admit, she found it adorable.

"No... I just have so much things going on"

"Are you breaking this poor guy's heart as well?" He pointed to himself then.

She thought he looked ridiculous yet adorable at the same time.

"No it's not that. I'm just really busy this week"

"Okay. So I'm telling Wendy you're free then" He says after already telling her sister.

Lucy knew she's too late. She's not even mad at him.

"You're ridiculous"

"Ridiculously irresistible?" The goofy grin throws it off.

"Can you please leave?" Natsu heard sarcasm more than anything else.

"No" And that's what he exactly did. He never left.


End file.
